Second Reign of the Titans
by AlternateWriter
Summary: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or any of its characters, that honor belongs to Rick Riordan. Everyone knows the Percy Jackson/Kronos story, how he defeated the lord titan but what if he hadn't? What if Percy Jackson had been abandoned by his father and never claimed. Never found by Grover and Chiron. Read ahead to figure it out.
1. Chapter 1: The Final Battle

_Chapter 1: The Final Battle_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.**

 _This series is a made up alternative story to the Percy Jackson series wrote by Rick Riordan. What would the world have been like if Percy Jackson had been forgotten about and not found by Grover and Chiron? Let's find out!_

 **Olympus - Third Person**

There were ruins all around. Fires had taken over most of the temples and the monsters had taken over all the rest. There was still one part of Olympus that hadn't been touched however, the throne room that was sacred by all 12 Olympians. It was being defended by the divine gods of Greece and several other minor gods. The war had begun when Kronos, the Lord of Time and King of Titans had been slowly regaining strength via human form through a demigod called Luke. Once the mortal body was not needed, he rid himself of it and proceeded to move his plans into action in his divine form. He raised an army of monsters and had convinced hundreds of demigods in both camp half-blood and camp Jupiter to side with him and lay siege to the Olympians.

Now today was his D-Day, it was the day that he was going to rid the world of all things godly and replace it with the almighty original titans. Up to this point he had ransacked both camps capturing many demigods and killing those who refused to surrender and stormed Mount Olympus itself. They had reached it's very peak when the Olympians had finally seen that they had been focussed on a distraction through the form of the monster Typhon and only at the last minute were they able to travel back to the throne room, their source of power. They had been fighting for hours and had slain hundreds of monsters and dozens of traitorous demigods yet the end was inevitable. The titans themselves had not yet entered the battle and already several minor gods had fallen. No more would Eurus, Nike, Harmonia, nor Hebe grace the world with their presence.

Eventually the titans said enough was enough and Atlas, Iapetus, Helios and Kronos himself entered the fight. They first subdued Ares knowing the war god would be the best fighter for the Olympians. They then attempted to move onto the twins Apollo and Artemis but they kept at a bay with their skill in archery, forcing the titans back whenever they attempted to charge. Only when they had captured Ares, Hermes, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena and Dionysus did the others eventually call for a halt. Zeus, the King of Olympians had decided that this was enough and challenged Kronos to battle. The Lord of Time, King of Titans, Father of the Olympians had accepted the offer and then began the most important duel in thousands of years. The master bolt's lightening could be heard for miles around and the event lit up New York City. But no matter what Zeus had attempted, Kronos had control over time. Whenever the Olympian got close to landing a hit, time would slow down enough for any damage to be done. After a mere 10 minutes of this, Zeus was battered and golden ichor was flowing from numerous wounds. We limped over to the remaining Olympians and told them to retreat to a safe haven where they would not be found. With the last remaining strength, Zeus raised his master bolt for one last surge of power. As he looked around the throne room, he saw the victorious looks of the titans and the horrific faces of the monsters, he saw the thrones of the Olympians, symbols of their power trashed and he knew what he needed to do. With his last effort, he called out to Kronos "You may have won the fight but you will never claim Olympus?" he raised his bolt and fired. Kronos raised his scythe to block the blow but was confused and watched as the lightening shot past him into Hestia's hearth. The blast struck the centre of Olympus and as Zeus fell to the ground unconscious, Mount Olympus had collapsed and blew up destroying and killing everything that was not a god or titan. At that same moment, brother to Zeus, Poseidon had teleported himself and the remaining members of his family to the only safe place he could think of that they would not be found. An old apartment that he had not seen in 16 years that belonged to a beautiful woman. He travelled to Sally Jackson's apartment.

 _I am sorry about the short chapter but this is my first story, please input any ideas and criticism! Hopefully I will be able to upload every few days or so but this is not a promise. I will try my best to incorporate any ideas you have and to make the chapters longer. Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternatewriter_


	2. Chapter 2: The New Beginning

_Chapter 2: The New Beginning_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.**

 **Olympus: Kronos POV**

I won't lie, I did not expect that to happen. Zeus was the selfish god, he was supposed to use his last bit of strength to try and have me evaporated but no, he had to do the only noble thing in his long life and blow up Olympus. He sacrificed himself to me as a captive in the end but in the process he slayed hundreds of my monsters and several demigods that I had used in the attack as well. But a bigger concern are the Olympians who he had let escape. Artemis, Apollo, Hera, Hephaestus and Poseidon were somewhere in the world, I can't sense them which means they must have put some type of boundary around themselves. No matter, once I take the underworld next and Hades, I will convince Tartarus to join me then I will hunt them down.

During this thought Helios, my brother had come up to me and let me know that the attack had gone according to plan. Both camps Jupiter and Half-blood had been overrun and most of the demigods had been captured. There were a few killed but that was inevitable, some were bound to go down fighting. The remainder however would be used in my next phase of attack, my siege on the underworld. That is going to be a tedious task considering Hades had only allowed a few entrances to be built and can call upon an unlimited undead army. We're going to have to see if my secret equipment will be able to get through that. In the mean time we have to deal with those Olympians however. Zeus will be kept in my palace once we rebuild our stronghold on Mount Tamalpais. Mount Othrys will be bigger and better than before. When we decide to show the mortals who we are they will quiver in fear and bow down, they will plead an oath to servitude to us. If they don't, what's a few billion deaths. Ares' fate has already been decided, he will be taking Atlas' old burden and hold up the sky for the rest of eternity. Krios has already accepted to watch guard over him while he rules the west coast. Helios will watch over Hermes and Aphrodite as part of his duties. Athena, Demeter, and Dionysus will be all under guard by our priceless ally Typhon. We gave him the southern states to watch over and ruin if he pleases, the only limit we placed is that he must wait until we reveal ourselves to the mortals.

That is our plan for the Olympians, the minor gods will be either forced to join our forces or join the demigods and be used as slaves. We won't make the same mistake as Zeus did, we will hold the world by fear and force them to worship us rather than give them a choice. A world ruled by fear will be under more control opposed to a world given a choice to follow or not. The mortals will either bow down or be destroyed. With the minor gods, captured demigods and a army of mortals behind us, there will be no future threat, only a time that will be indefinitely ruled by the titans. For now, however, we have some rebuilding to do at Mount Tamalpais.

 **One Week Later**

"My Lord! My Lord!" Nemesis, a minor god that had helped topple Olympus had come running in the partially built throne room. "There has been another attack at Camp Half-Blood, we think it is the same group that attacked yesterday!". The day before an unknown group of either demigods or immortals had attacked the camp attempting to free the captives we held there. They failed in the attempt but left no dead behind so we don't know who it was. "The same thing happened, they surprised our sentries to make sure no one triggered the alarm then slowly moved towards the captives. This time however it seems they had brought archers, they were able to take out the guards before they knew they were there. They rescued 14 demigods my Lord" Nemesis reported.

"And do we have any idea who these saviours are by any chance?"

"All that we have is our assumptions, we do not believe they were gods for they would have been able to be a lot quicker. We believe that they were a group of demigods that were not at the camp when we had attacked."

"How many demigods do we have left in captive there?"

"We still have 25 there my Lord, we have also doubled the guard and doubled the sentries all around the camp. They won't get in again."

"These attacks are well coordinated, my guess is that a child of Athena is behind this with a small following of other demigods, some are well versed in warfare as they were able to take out the sentries quickly and quietly, as well as able to shoot the guards." This seemed the most reasonable explanation to me.

"I agree, the total count lost is 8 hell hounds, 12 dracaenae, and 4 empousa."

"I could care less about the troops we lost, every demigod life matters however, they are a key piece in my plan to take the underworld and capture the remaining Olympians. I will send Prometheus with one of my own groups of guard. They will go to camp Half-blood and bring the remaining captives to camp Jupiter. There we will be able to hold all the captured demigods from both camps in a small and easily defendable location. While this happens I want you to go and find out where these rogue demigods are and take them out. Can you handle that?"

"Yes my Lord, I am sorry if I have displeased you. I will go find and destroy this group right away."

"Be gone then."

As Nemesis left I couldn't help but overthink the problem. A simple group of demigods no matter how well trained will never break into camp Jupiter so the captives will not be taken from there. Yet they still cause me a headache so I might get one of my brothers to go find them, I doubt that half wit minor god will be able to come close to them. If it is a daughter of Athena, then there is no hope that they will be found easily. I'll have to take it in my own hands.

 **Top of the Empire State Building: Third Person**

There were demigods running here and there in a hurry. Some were stocking weapons, some food. A few were tending to the wounded but a fair few were just sitting down looking at the ruin of Olympus. After the titans had destroyed it a week ago, they left it abandoned taking the Olympians to their jails and their palace in ruins. It was the perfect spot to set up camp their leader had decided. She had known that the last place the titans would ever look is at the place that is the most obvious. From there she was in range of camp Half-blood and was able to get there and back in a few hours, perfect distance to watch them and launch small raids if the opportunity arose. Just that happened earlier today, we had noticed that the usual sentries of dracaenae and hell hounds had lessened so they decided it was time to try again after their failure yesterday. The children of Hermes and Ares managed to take out the sentries sending them to Tartarus and the Apollo kids were able to shoot the guards to a few of the cabins before they knew we were even there. They saved 14 demigods from capture. 25 were still out there though, that's what mattered. In her mind she had failed, she never did anything less than perfect but this time she cam up 25/39 short. It was unacceptable, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena does not fail. But she would have to take it for now, the rest of the ex-campers looked up to her now for guidance and leadership.

She and a few friends were lucky that they were not at camp when the titans attacked, they saw what happened though. Hundreds and hundreds of monsters, demigods and a titan had stormed through the barrier as if it was nothing. They scattered in an unorganized fashion yet they all clearly had their targets. A group of hell hounds attacked the dining pavilion, empousa took over the swords arena and the rogue demigods stormed the cabins. They watched as their friends either surrendered or died fighting. The attack was so intense and quick that as soon as it happened it was over. Camp Half-blood no longer belonged to the Olympians.

It was up to a small group of demigods who were out of camp just for some downtime. Luckily that small group of friends turned out to be the best in the camp and they consisted of: Clarisse Rue - daughter of Ares, Charles Beckendorf – Son of Hephaestus, Will Solace – son of Apollo, Travis and Connor Stoll – twin brothers and sons of Hermes, and lastly Annabeth Chase – daughter of Athena.

These demigods had witnessed their camp be destroyed and had sound out that Olympus had been ruined. All they knew is that they were alone and that they couldn't let this go down like this. They knew that they needed help but they had no idea that their saviour was just a few blocks away, currently in the middle of a grueling Math test.

 _Still trying to get the build up for the main plot, please leave a review or pm me if you like the story or have any ideas on the plot line. All criticism is helpful, good and bad. Thank you for reading._

 _-Alternativewriter_


	3. Chapter 3: Say Hi to Everyone Percy

_Chapter 3: Say Hi to Everyone Percy_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.**

 **Meriweather College Prep: Percy Jackson POV**

Why the hell do I need to know what the radius is of a circle that's 25 cm in perimeter? Or how an angle in a triangle can be measured in several different ways? Really, why do they even teach math at all, why not stick with easier courses like English, gym, or history. Those courses I at the very least pass, well English may be on the line but I usually pass it. Math however, never in my life have I gotten above a 47 on a test...ever. 10 more minutes is all I can think at the moment, then it's lunch and I can go and finally relax, stop worrying about this course. It's the last test in the semester luckily, after this I just have a history lesson (which is on Greek mythology thank god), P.E., and science (ugh). Then schools out for the summer and I can spend 2 months just chilling and playing games on my computer.

The rest of the day went by fairly easy, I got perfect on the Greek mythology test. I don't know why but that stuff just clicks in my head no problem. I ended up winning the wrestling competition in gym class which was no surprise but after those two classes science happened. That's all I have to say about that. The walk home to my apartment was a few blocks, short enough for me to walk and not have to worry about the subway and it was nice to just stretch my legs everyday to and from school.

When I got to the apartment though, something was off. The door was slightly ajar and there were far too many voices in there. I got worried until I heard my mom say "Be quiet everyone, Percy will be home soon!". That calmed me down knowing that nothing was wrong but immediately I wondered who was in there, was it a surprise party for me for finishing school!? If so, I'm expecting hoe made blue cake and cookies, just saying. As I walked in though, it was definitely no surprise party, I had no idea who any of these people were. They all seemed in a small panic however, most of them not talking and just staring into space. Actually, when I walked in only my mom had seemed to acknowledge my existence. She came up and gave me a hug and asked to talk to me in private in the kitchen. Wen went and all she had to say was "These are a few of my…friends from out of town, their house was destroyed. They will be staying with us for a little while until their place gets rebuilt again.". Obviously I had questions like "Who are they?", "How did it get destroyed?", "Can't they stay somewhere else?". All she answered was "We'll talk about it later.". After that we returned to the over crowded living room and everyone got introduced. There was Henry who seemed to have a prosthetic arm (Hephaestus), A woman who seemed very proper named Heather (Hera), two who were obviously brother and sister named Arielle and Andy (Artemis and Apollo) and finally there was Paul, a man who seemed to love to dress as if he was on a tropical cruise (Poseidon).

After the introductions everyone kind of split off into groups and talked amongst themselves, something seemed very urgent. Everyone but Paul that was, he seemed very interested in me for some reason. He asked how I did in school, how old I was, what grade I was in. Eventually he started asking me about my past and that's when everything fell apart. I think my mom had forgotten to mention to everyone that she was married and that her husband would be home in about three seconds. My step-father (I don't know who my real one is, but it definitely isn't the slump she married) walked in and immediately we got into a rage. His name is Gabe but I call him Smelly Gabe because of his knack to smell horrendous all the time. He also kind of gets mad at anything and everything that doesn't go his way and a house full of strangers isn't his definition of a welcome home sight. He calmly pulled my mom into the kitchen and that's when sh*t hit the fan. All we could hear was Gabe yelling "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHY ARE THEY IN MY HOUSE?", he obviously blew his top and blamed my mom for everything like usually.

I don't think I have ever seen someone move as fast as Paul had at that moment. Next thing I knew was he ran into the kitchen and had Gabe out on the floor in the living room in a strangle hold. It happened so fast I wasn't sure what had happened but that Gabe finally got what he had coming to him. Can't say he didn't try to put up a fight, he was thrashing around in his arms but Paul was obviously in control, all he had to say to him was "You will never treat that woman like that ever again. I give you one night and you and all your belongings have to be out of here.". He said it in such a calm yet powerful voice that Gabe couldn't help but stop and think about what he just said. There was no chance h was going to go down that easily though, he was going to deny and fight until he was forcibly removed. I had the feeling Paul knew this to and when he let go of Gabe's neck he had already anticipated the punch that was coming and had his arm pinned behind his back at an unhealthy angle it seemed. He gave him one more warning: "One night, that's all. Another attempt to resist and you will be gone right now and not let back in. Your choice.". At that Gabe got up and left to his room calling Sally after him. Paul grabbed her arm before she could follow Gabe and just told her to stay in the living room, she didn't want to be with her husband right now.

During the night nothing too eventful happened. I learned some what a few of the visitors did for work and found out that they were all pretty nice people. When everyone had gone to bed my mom ended up sharing my room with me as she didn't want to go to her bed with Gabe and all the other spots were taken by the visitors so I got the floor and she got my bed. We talked for a while about school and her work at the candy store and Grand Central Station, but after a few minutes I couldn't hold it back any longer and started asking about her visitors. I found out that they actually showed up at our apartment a week ago asking if they could crash here but she told them they would have to find arrangements for a week until I'm done school.

She told me "They came here at about 2 p.m. a week ago and they all seemed really distressed which make sense. Their home was destroyed by some kind of explosion.".

"How do you know them though? Why did they come here?".

"They are friends from a long time ago like I said before and they came here because they asked. Please, no more questions tonight Percy."

With that they went to bed but I couldn't help but think how protective Paul was of my mom. There was some connection there and I'll find out what it is. Another thing that boggles me is why he was so interested in my life, he asked about all the schools I'd gone to, who I was friends with, he even asked my what my birthday parties were like in previous years. Needless to say but he went way more in depth than someone who was just trying to make conversation. It was weird but I'm still thankful for him dealing with Gabe. My step father had caused me and my mom so many problems I am indebted to Paul; he did my family a favour.

 **The Next Morning**

The last we saw of Gabe was when he left with 2 duffle bags full of his stuff and left his wedding ring on the dresser. That morning when everyone had gotten up and started moving around, there were a few loud knocks on the door and it sounded like voices yelling on the other side. Every single one of the visitors had frozen as if they were made from stone and looked at the door. I have no idea what they were scared of, if anything it was probably just a few people in a drunken state banging on all the doors, I just ignored it and moved along my daily routine. The banging stopped in just a few seconds anyway and everyone relaxed back to normal, still confused as to why they looked so terrified though.

Later that morning I had decided to go in my room and play a few of my games on my computer to kill some time until lunch. As I was walking to my room I couldn't help but overhear a few of the guests talking, I think it was Heather, Arielle and henry. Their conversation intrigued me right away as they were talking about what I had understood as Greek mythology, just my favourite subject ever (as I actually understood it perfectly). I only got part of the conversation though because I didn't want to be caught.

Heather was telling the others "Olympus will be rebuilt, don't worry".

"But what if Zeus can't be freed, Kronos can't e beaten without him" Henry said.

"A way will be found, don't worry. We won't take this sitting down.".

Arielle jumped in at this point, obviously the upbeat member of this group, "We have the strength ourselves to at least attack back, don't worry. Like Hera said, we will deal with this.".

At that point I walked away as quietly as possible. That conversation didn't make any sense, they talked as if they knew where Olympus was and that it was destroyed. I'm not an expert at English but I caught the word "we" being used as if it was their job to fix the destruction. That and I am pretty sure that Arielle had called Heather Hera, that was absurd considering Hera was the queen of the Olympians and only in a myth, must be a joke or some type of game they were playing. I figured I'd just settle down and lose myself in my games.

When I came back out for lunch, everyone seemed to be relaxing and just enjoying the peace and quiet. I'm pretty sure I smelled grilled cheese being made for lunch. As soon as mom had come out to announce that lunch was ready, Paul jumped off the couch he was sitting on, looked at the door for a brief second and yelled for everyone to get down, jumping at my mom and I. Next thing I knew everyone had jumped down for some reason, Paul was on top of my mom and I and I had no idea what was going on. Then I heard the explosion and saw the door come flying off. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what had caused the explosion.

 _To Be Continued_

 _Please comment on how the story is going so far. I have a plot forming in my head but it is definitely possible to shift it a little bit to fit your recommendations. Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternativewriter_


	4. Chapter 4: What Just Happened?

_Chapter 4: What Just Happened_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.**

 _ **Character Recap:**_

 _Paul Poseidon_

 _Heather Hera_

 _Henry Hephaestus_

 _Ariella Artemis_

 _Andy Apollo_

 **Sally Jackson's Apartment: Percy's POV**

The entire door just flew off its hinges in a cloud of smoke. The frame was on fire and everything the door crashed into was smashed to pieces, it was horrifying to see. But what really made me scared was what came out of the doorway. I had heard about this thing in myths and researched it in history class, it was a thing of legends and for a second I thought I was hallucinating. That was before Paul had stood up and jumped at the minotaur before anyone else reacted, the sound it made when Paul had launched into it was so loud and terrifying that no amount of imagination could have created that. There was a real life minotaur in my living room fighting a man I just met. It was the minotaur's strength and horns against Paul's speed and trident. Wait why does he have a trident…where di that come from. This all happened in a span of 10 seconds and now all the other guests were rushing to Paul's side, looking like they were going to help him. That was until other monsters had entered the apartment behind the first intruder. I recognized a few empousa but all the others were unknown to me yet just as terrifying as the minotaur. All Percy could do was stand by his mom and watch the duel that had first started. The minotaur was obviously strong; every punch it threw or head butt attempted went through a wall or door or whatever was in its way. Paul on the other hand seemed to know how to fight, he dodged every attack and punched the minotaur at every opportunity and the way the beast was moving it felt them when they landed. After a minute of sparring each other Paul had jumped backwards swinging his trident at the same time pinning one arm against the wall and with a twist it came off. This was followed by a quick jab into the neck and the minotaur was turned into a pile of ash. As I looked around the living room was trashed and everyone who was here in the morning seemed okay yet there was about a dozen piles of ashes littered everywhere. Paul immediately came and called everyone over.

"I don't know how we were found so fast but we have to move, now. Does anyone have a secure location?"

"We can go to Delos, it is an island near Greece that is sacred to only my sister and I, we will be able to hide and defend there." Said Andy, although I don't know how an island is sacred to these people.

"If they found us here then surely they will be able to find us at an island that is sacred to you, that will be one of first places they look." reasoned Heather. I'm not sure what everyone was talking about but she did sound correct there.

"No one knows about the island but us a few of our most sacred followers. They would never give its location. It is safe." Arielle said. I knew Andy and Arielle were siblings!

Paul had made a decision, "Okay, you two take us to Delos, but please remember that we have these two with us" as he motioned to mom and I.

And with that I felt my gut being wrenched from my stomach. It wasn't a painful feeling, just a weird one. After half a second though, we were on an island in the middle of the sea it seemed. There was a large amphitheater where we were, the seats were carved from stone and there seemed to be a cave at the bottom. All around a flower was in bloom, I think I remember them from class. In Greek mythology they said that these flowers were called Hyacinth, created by Apollo in memory of his deceased love. It covered the island in shades of purple and blue everywhere. All of a sudden though it hit me, we had just teleported or something to island of the coast of Greece…from Manhattan. And this is when I begin to freak out. How did that happen, that should be a several hour flight at the fastest yet it took us less than two seconds.

I looked around and seemed that I was the only one in the group having a panic attack. Did anyone realize we got here in a second with no vehicle, we just appeared here? Wait…Paul told Arielle and Andy to 'take' us here. Did they do this, no, that's physically impossible. But the minotaur…and the other monsters…Paul and his trident…what's going on? I saw mom walk over my way but something on her face had surprised me. Actually, it was the lack of surprise that had scared me the most, she seemed completely at peace with whatever just happened to us as if it happened everyday. She did look worried though but I'm pretty sure that was concerning me.

"Percy, are you okay?"

I slowly backed away from her and asked "Mom, what's happening right now? There was a minotaur and empousa, I know Paul had killed the monster but he had a trident and no one is able to move that fast. What is going on here?"

"Don't freak out okay, just hear me out. Paul isn't a random visitor of friend from a few years ago, Percy, he's Poseidon, one of the gods of -"at that point I passed out. There was too much information and disbelief in my head. This wasn't possible, it shouldn't be possible. Yet it just happened.

 _I apologize for the shorter chapter, I had to close of this thought and it didn't fit in the previous chapter. I am not planning on this being a common occurrence as I know I don't like reading shorter chapters personally. The next one will be longer. I'm trying to keep this fanfic different from the others so Percy won't be centered in all chapters, I'll focus on him more if that is what you want but he will be a side character for the following chapters. Input any ideas please and thank you for reading._

 _-Alternativewriter_


	5. Chapter 5: Vigilantes and Romans

_Chapter 5: Vigilantes and Romans_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned later.**

 **Top of the Empire State Building, 2 Hours Before the Attack at the Apartment: Annabeth's POV**

It has to have been a half hour since the scouts had seen that small group of monsters leaving camp. They should be here within an hour if they are moving at top speed but what could they be after. It was a small enough group so they won't know where we are, but it's still unnerving to know there will be a group of monsters roaming around Manhattan. The defenses have been doubled just in case, they won't get 100 feet to this building without being decimated by arrows.

I've decided to place a small group of followers on them to see where they go, see if they have any allies in the city or if they are hunting. Either options will be useful knowledge for us, if they have allies we can eliminate them as soon as possible and if they are hunting at least we know it's a small enough pack that we can take out. Until they get here though there isn't much that we can do.

 **1 Hour Later**

They've got to be near here, it's been a hour and a half since they left camp. Actually here's Will, he'll know. Wait, why's he so tired, it should have been a easy drive back here without complications.

"Hey Annabeth" Will shouted, "we have a surprise, that group you asked us to follow met up with someone."

"Who was it? Titan? Ally?".

"It was another beast from Tartarus but he shouldn't be back for another 1500 years or so. It's the minotaur, he's back."

Crap…the minotaur is evil, there's no other way to say it. He is extremely hard to kill and a very deadly force to fight against. He wasn't supposed to be recreated for another millennium at least, something is wrong. And what would the titans need him, one of the most feared beasts in our history for? If this is just a hunting party, they are hunting something more than just us. That beast could take out a group of demigods twice our size with the group it has with it. "Will, take your siblings and a few Ares campers and tail them, do not fight them. You will lose and I can't afford to lose any more friends to these guys so stay close enough to see but not close enough for them to smell you. Got it?"

"That's not a problem, we'll make sure we're safe. Don't worry Annabeth."

I saw him leave with about 7 other campers, 5 Apollo kids and 3 Ares. They were our best fighters in the camp before it was attacked but their numbers were decimated. Usually I could send out 15 kids on that patrol but now only 7. We have to save the others, have to.

 **On a Street in Downtown Manhattan: Will's POV**

We had tailed the monsters for nearly a half hour after they entered the city until they finally found what they were looking for, a random apartment complex. They seemed like this was their goal since they stood around observing the building. The minotaur was obviously in charge as he set two dracaenae as guards and brought the other dozen or so monsters up the stairs with him. After a few minutes all we heard was a huge explosion and noticed a bright light from an apartment a few stories up. Fearing that the monsters were attacking demigods that were caught at home I immediately took out my bow and shot the two guards clean through the throat and sent them straight to Tartarus. It took us a few minutes to get up the stairs and easily found the apartment that was attacked as it was missing a door. There was obviously evidence of a fight; holes in the way, smashed furniture, scorch marks from the explosion, obvious minotaur horn holes in the wall. The weirdest thing was the lack of victims bodies. There was no one in the apartment mortal or monster. That's when Mitch Rawling had called me over.

"Will, there are piles of dust everywhere around here. It seems like whoever was here was able to beat off the attack. There's a pile of dust over there that's bigger than the others, must have been the big guy."

I trusted his judgement, as a child of Ares he knew what a fight scene had looked like. "Go through each of the rooms and check for anyone still here. Remember to double up with someone in case there are a few beasts still left." With a nod he had gone off to check the rooms with Jennifer, my sister. This was puzzling, no demigod could fight the minotaur and live, not in this life time however. Whoever did this had known how to take it on and had exceptional fighting skills. We have to get back to Annabeth. After 10 minutes we declared the apartment empty and headed back to base.

 **Empire State Building: Annabeth's POV**

This was concerning. Someone or something had destroyed one of the most dangerous monsters in Greek mythology as well as a dozen other lesser monsters. Even more concerning was that he had disappeared within seconds of the attack. Will informed me that there was only one stairway up and down the building and they hadn't crossed anyone going down when they rushed to help. No one in my memory would have been able to be that fast and escape the group without anyone seeing. Someone or something is being hunted by the titans, that isn't a bad thing. It means that we aren't alone here, if we can find them then they would be a great boost to our forces. More concerning though is the information I had received when Will and the others were out following the minotaur. The remaining campers had been taken away and we don't know where to. I had been informed that the titan Prometheus and a select group of what seemed to be cyclopes and demigods had come to camp and taken them. Even if we had all went and known that this was going to happen, we are in no position to even take on that guard much less a titan. We have to find out where they are bringing them to but with our numbers we can't do a whole lot more than keep our base safe and send out some scout parties to search for other demigods that never went to camp or allies that are against the titans. Demigods are our priority though; it seems like the titan's armies are searching for them specifically. We've seen a few groups of monsters with satyrs as captive, it can only mean that they are using them to smell out demigods. I don't know why they are doing this though; they already have 25 demigod's captive unless they are trying to completely erase any form of the gods possible.

There are so many unanswered questions that I have right now and they need to be answered. Where did they bring the demigods? Who is important enough for the titans to send one of their most powerful monsters to take captive? If they were a demigod, how is a demigod that strong been able to stay hidden all this time? The most important question so far is, are we alone? Are we the only form of resistance that is willing to put up a fight and take back what is ours? If so, we are in for one heck of a war.

 **Mount Orthys: Kronos' POV**

So that's where the Olympians were hiding out. They had hijacked a mortal's apartment to try and take themselves off the grid yet they didn't know apparently that without the barriers they were used to in Olympus, other immortals with our strength can sense where they are. The minotaur was a good asset we had, it was a shame to lose him. He was as obedient and ruthless as we could ask for yet I needed some powerful beast to go with that small group of troops to confirm that they were there. His loss wasn't unneeded though, we did have two confirmations. One, the Olympians were there, they had been residing there for at least one night which is good to know. They are likely in another position like that right now and once I can sense them I will go personally with my brothers and end this once and for all. Also, my scouts in Manhattan had noticed that the two guards outside had also been killed. The Olympians had left straight from the apartment so they hadn't killed them, that means that another body of immortals or mortals had killed them. Most likely the same troops that had released the demigods from the camp. We can confirm that they are also in Manhattan and will be dealt with shortly.

We have to start with the siege of the underworld now though. Hades has a army with him and will put up a fight but we have already captured the known entrances and sent Charon to Tartarus. All that was left to do now was storm the passages and claim the underworld as our own. Whether Hades will perish or not is up to him, he can surrender or he can stand and fight. He either dies or he becomes my slave just as the other Olympians. The weapons I had been building are almost complete. They will be used to clear the passages to the underworld as they are the biggest threat to us. Once we get to the fields of Asphodel, the skeleton army will be useless against our monsters. There will be no competition and it will be a slaughter. The date set for attack is in 2 weeks. We should have the weapons built and test readied for then, we can't have a misfire or the blast could incinerate half our forces. That would prolong the battle far longer than needed, we want it to be quick and done with. Now we wait and deal with the other problems.

Several small forces should be sent out in downtown Manhattan to try and find where these demigods are. We already have satyrs out trying to find lone demigods that have not yet be claimed. They should pick up this large group quite easily. Then we'll send out a strike force to eliminate them, maybe send out that goddess Nemesis and finally get a use out of her. So many things to do yet we have to wait for all of them. I have waited millennia for this time to come and I am growing impatient now. Something has to happen and soon.

"Brother, we have had a minor complication."

"Well it's nice to see you too Atlas, what's wrong?"

"We have gotten word from one of the demigods at Camp Jupiter that there was a small group of demigods on a quest, usually this would not concern you with this but one of them was a praetor of the legion. His name is Jason Grace and he is a son of Jupiter, supposedly he has powers that are greater than any other demigod in this generation and he was supposed to turn back to camp yesterday. He is on foot supposedly and should return within a few hours."

"How many men does he have with him?"

"The informer told me that their quests only allowed three Romans to go, on this quest it was Jason Grace, a daughter of Diana named Jessica Young, and a son of Mars named Frank Zhang." Their quest was to go and help their savour, a wolf that goes under Lupa. She needed assistance with something, I was not told of what."

"I wish to see this informer you have, perhaps I can get a little bit more out of him. Sometimes you go a little soft on those who speak highly of you Atlas."

"As you wish brother, but I will say I think he gave me all that he knows. He is in the jail at the camp."

 **Camp Jupiter Jail Cell**

A son of Apollo, apparently he was the augur of the legion Atlas says yet the child in front of me looks nothing like a source of power. He had next to no muscle mass and his eyes betrayed his attempt at a fearless expression. He was obviously one threat away from fainting. This should be fun.

"So I hear you have broken your allegiance to your legion. That is very un-Roman like of you is it not?"

"A Roman should fight a battle he knows that he will win. This battle is going to be won, as long as they side with you my lord.". He could barely speak straight as he was so terrified, his voice was shaky and nervous.

"You flatter me, it seems like you have a tongue of gold and now I see why my brother Atlas here was keen to come tell me the news you told him. Tell me traitor, what is your name?". At the world traitor I could see him flinch as if I hit him with a whip.

"My Lord, King of Titans, Master of Time, Emperor Kronos, my name is Octavian and am a legacy of Apollo. I do not believe I am a traitor for I am doing what all Romans should. Everyone of my brothers should lay down his arms and join you, if they do not then they are the traitors to themselves and their legion."

"That's enough about your loyalty, I do believe that you are here because you believe we will win. It was a smart move but now tell me, what is it about this trio that you told my brother. Leave nothing out and start from the beginning." I ordered him.

He took a deep breath and lowered his head and said something which took me aback, "I will tell you my lord but in payment I do ask one thing. Once the Olympians are destroyed and you have complete control, will you place me in charge of Camp Jupiter? I will be a loyal servant and order my legion to march where you please, slaughter who you want. That is my one request."

This startled me, I did not expect him to make a request, "I am surprised at your bravery for asking me, the Titan Lord a request. Because you have asked though, I shall accept as long as your knowledge is worthy."

"Thank you my lord. My praetor, Jason Grace, is a powerful demigod and a son of Jupiter. Some say he was the greatest demigod in our generation." He had a look of vengeance and hate as talked of this Jason, either greed of his position or what I do not know but he did not like this person, "He came to the senate one day and told the senators that the goddess Lupa had come to him asking for aid."

"Goddess, I thought she was a wolf?"

"Yes, she is wolf form lord but she is the immortal protector of Rome, a goddess to us. Jason would not tell us what she had asked of him but told us that he had needed to go on a quest. There was a uproar about this but as he talked, more people began to listen. Eventually they listened to his words and became manipulated by his voice. They eventually agreed to send him on his quest as well as two more demigods. I was the one to suggest that he bring his two friends, Jessica Young and Frank Zhang. They were both centurions and greatly skilled fighters as they were a daughter of Diana and a son or Mars. They had left a day before your attack on the camp so they do not know about it. They had said that they would be back by dinner today. That is all I know lord, I hope it pleases you."

"It is good information child of Apollo, I must ask though, why do you hate this Jason Grace so much?"

"It is a reason not worthy of your ears and I would rather not say it unless you order me to."

"Very well, go back to your cell with your fellow Romans, I may call on you later."

 **Back at Mount Orthys**

So this Jason character, he must be captured and quickly. He is supposed to be here within a hour, that isn't much time to set a trap so we must have every monster at disposal on the perimeter. The demigods we have placed at the entrance will tell us when they get here and at the little Tiber they will either be captured or perish.

 **About 100 meters from the hidden entrance to New Rome: Jason Grace's POV**

"Frank, Jess, do either of you recognize those to guards?" I had been watching them for a few minutes now and could not tell which cohort they were from, or if they had even been in the legion actually.

"Nope, don't know" said Frank, Jess had the same answer. If we don't recognize them then no one in the legion will, so who are they.

"You two follow me, be close and be ready to take out your weapons." As we left the cover of the bush we were hiding behind we crossed the road and walked to the two guards. As I neared them they didn't stand straight and salute as they should but stayed in a relaxed position the entire time. They were not Roman legionaries, that was for sure.

"Hello praetor, how was the quest?"

This was a very informal question and guards were not to speak unless commanded or in combat. I didn't need to play these games with these two imposters. "Which cohort are you two from and why did you not salute when I came over?"

"We are from the first cohort sir and we apologize, it has been a hot day and we did not see you until you were already here."

"You do know that I personally accept each member in the first cohort, you are not members of it so who are you?". They looked at each other and made a huge mistake. They went to their scabbards and went to take out their swords but before that happened Frank had one by his throat and Jess had her bow aimed at the others head. "Now why don't we go see who put these two imposters on guard duty, it was probably Octavian."

As we entered the tunnel something seemed off, the other end was dark and seemed partially blocked off and we couldn't see the other end of it. That was not normal nor a good sign. "What do you two think? I'm pretty sure Reyna hadn't decided to do some redecorating so this wasn't approved by the legion.". Reyna Ramirez-Arellano was a daughter of Bellona and my fellow co-praetor.

"I say we bound these two imposters and gag them in case there's something on the other side of that blockade." Said Jess. There were no arguments so we bound them with strips of some of our blankets we took with us for the quest. We stuffed some cloth in their mouths to make sure they were quiet. When we were doing so we noticed that each of them had a walkie talkie in their back pocket which was weird since demigods know that technology is dangerous for them. Although to prevent a misunderstanding, we made sure not to hurt them in case they were on our side after all. As we moved further through the tunnel everything seemed normal except for the barricade but once we got to the end we could hear a fair bit of movement on the other side. Normally we don't have guards there so I was a bit miffed about who that could be. As I started to go around the side of the barricade, I froze. There were hell hounds, dracaenae and empousa closest to us. Harpies filled the air and earthborne were seen no too far off. There seemed to be a few cyclops around also.

Before I could turn around and warn the others one of them spotted me and all hell broke loose. "Frank, get beside me and Jess behind, we have to get out of here right away!" I yelled at them. Those guards must have been told to warn these guys that we were coming when we passed through the gate using those walkie talkies.

 **Third Person**

With a rush, all the monsters had charged towards the trio. There was no command, no order just a shout saying they were there and than a charge to either wipe out or detain the demigods. Hell hounds had gotten to them first but as they approached one or two at a time they were dashed to pieces by Jason's and Frank's swords which were imperial gold gladius. As soon as one of the hounds got close one of their swords would flicker out and slice it into dust. As Jason and Frank took care of the monsters running towards them, Jessica used her uncanny skill with a bow and started taking out the aerial threats, the harpies. The first wave of hell hounds proved no threat at all to the three well trained demigods. The slaughter of the first few had the entire mass stop and waver for a second. Frank and Jason took this time to charge, it seemed like a stupid thing to do but it was drilled into them from training. When a enemy stops and wonders your capabilities that is when you charge to show them that you are not afraid no matter the number you are against. Jason went to the left and Frank went to the right and every monster they came up to turned into a pile of dust. A few monsters started to back up to avoid the attention of these to demigods as they seemed to be unbeatable but this didn't last forever. After a minute or so the monsters began to press forward again and that is when the two demigods retreated back to the barricade knowing that the narrow side opening was their best bet to stay alive. Both of them were covered in dust from the enemies they had slain and Jessica had now started to climb the barricade to shoot at the ground threat now that she had taken out the harpies above.

A group of dracaenae, the snake like women from Tartarus, moved in a shield wall formation with empousa behind them yelling orders. This was a formation that the Romans had practised against many times yet it was different when it was with a cohort as opposed to just the three of them. Jessica immediately aimed for the empousa and killed the vampire like demons silencing all orders and when the dracaenae halted waiting for the next command, that's when Frank Zhang attacked. When he got in a battle, sometimes he would gain a Mars blessing. A red aura came over him and he was untouchable in combat. He ran towards the shield wall and his scream had frightened the monsters behind it. He ran into a dracaenae and threw her to the ground immediately stabbing left and right turning the monsters either side of him to dust. With that he leapt back to avoid a spear stabbed his was and slashed through it as if it was made of butter. He stabbed the monster who tried to impale him and then felt someone behind him knowing Jason ad followed. Jason had no blessing but his combat skill with a sword was unrivalled. He slashed and stabbed at any dracaenae that came within reach. With them on a slaughter and Jessica keeping the reinforcements at bay with her arrows they had turned every single dracaenae in the wave into dust.

Then a group of cyclops had come forward to end this once and for all. They stood 8 feet tall and had bodies a professional wrestler would be jealous of. There were 5 of them and they marched in a slight V formation with the point facing towards the trio.

"Guys, get back in the tunnel and be ready to cover me okay?" Jason said to them. They listened to him right away not questioning him. They were trained since young to listen to their commander no matter what. This is when Jason Grace proved to all present that he was a son of Jupiter. He raised his sword and at the same moment lightening had struck down where he was. His sword seemed to absorb the electricity and when he raised it towards the incoming threat he shot it out vaporizing 3 of the cyclops. Using the air current, he pushed himself up in the air onto one of the beasts and plunged his sword into its one eye. Seeing his brethren fall, the fifth cyclops halted as did all the other monsters. With this Jason had retreated into the cave. When he had reached his friends they had decided to hold their ground halfway in the tunnel and that's when the monsters overcame their shock and charged forward chasing after him. Once they were 20 feet away Jason looked to Jess and told her to blow the ceiling. (The Roman army equipped their archers with imperial gold tipped arrows as the main firing source but also 2 explosive arrows for variety) She raised her bow and loosed the arrows. The concussion from the explosion blasted them back and the roof had collapsed and destroyed every monster that was caught under it. They looked at each other in silence, finally Jason stood up, "I don't know what just happened but we have to go. We will come back for our brothers but we need more force. Let's go."

 _Let me know if you like where the story is going so far. I'm going to start to introduce some more characters in different ways and I you have any suggestions let me know. Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternativewriter_


	6. Chapter 6: You Aren't Alone

_Chapter 6: You Aren't Alone_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.**

 **Delos Island 3 Days After the Minotaur Attack and Jason's Return: Percy's POV**

My name is Percy Jackson. I am 16 years old. I live in, or used to live in downtown Manhattan and attended Goode high school up until three days ago. I lived with my mom, Sally, and my step dad Paul.

This is a routine I started to do the morning after we landed on the island. I now tell myself what I know is real and everyday I add more and more sentences onto the list. That was the day after we landed on Delos, now I have a load more information to add and it's only two days later.

My name is Percy Jackson. I am 16 years old. I live in, or used to live in downtown Manhattan and attended Goode high school up until three days ago. I lived with my mom, Sally, and my step dad Paul. A bunch of moms old "friends" stayed over night 4 days ago and in the morning my apartment was attacked. A minotaur, the one from Greek mythology had attacked my living room and destroyed it. It along with a dozen other monsters were destroyed by the new visitors that had stayed over night. Mom's "friends" were some of the gods of Olympus, the ones straight from Greek legends and lore, the ones that weren't supposed to be real. Now I was staying with Paul (Poseidon), Heather (Hera), Andy (Apollo), Arielle (Artemis), Henry (Hephaestus). We were on Delos, an island off of Greece that was secret and sacred to the twins Apollo and Artemis. No one other than them and their most trusted priests had known about this place and considering all the priests died thousands of years ago, no one ever will.

So far that is all they have told me, I think it's in fear that anymore will overload my brain and cause me to faint again. They still haven't told me why they were in my apartment or why they fled to a secret island when just a dozen monsters attacked them, they were the gods of Olympus for crying out loud. Today they said they would make things more clear to me and explain why my apartment was destroyed and why I was taken away from home to here.

"Percy, are you awake yet?"

I can hear mom calling but a part of me just wants to just lay here all day and ignore any type of mythological events that might happen today. But I know she would see through any attempt I'd try to stay in bed so I rolled over. "Yeah, I'm awake.".

"Paul wants to see you Percy, he said it's time that you found out what happened and why it happened. Once he's done explaining you can ask questions and then you and I have the day to ourselves, they promised no interruptions. We can go to the beach, swim around or travel. Artemis and Apollo promise that there is nothing on this island that can hurt us, it's safe."

Mom had refused to call the Olympians by their real names but sticks with the names they gave her when they first arrived at the apartment. I rolled out of bed and when with mom to the amphitheater where they had decided to host all of their meetings. The 5 gods and goddesses were talking amongst themselves and only noticed our appearance when my mom cleared her throat behind them. At that everyone but Paul, Poseidon sorry, took a seat and we were told to take one as well. As we did Poseidon spoke up:

"Percy, what I am about to tell you may not register at first. All I ask is that if you have any questions, please wait until I am finished to ask me. A week before the minotaur attacked your apartment, we had arrived and asked your mother if we could stay there until we found other arrangements. I believe Sally had told you this already but she could not tell you why as you didn't know who we were. She was correct in saying that our home was destroyed, Mount Olympus is no more at the moment. Do you remember a lightening show a little more than a week ago Percy?". I did remember flashes of light a while ago which seemed odd because there was no rain so I nodded my head. "That was Zeus' master bolt, the one from the legends doing battle. Our father, as in Zeus', mine and Hades' father Kronos has risen from Tartarus and regrouped his brothers and his old allies. He has control over all the monsters that are not loyal to us, which is the vast majority of them and has gained the most powerful force in the world, Typhon. His forces had attacked Mount Olympus that day and our two other groups that we had, they had captured or destroyed all three. Mount Olympus was turned into rubble and the other two camps were captured and we do not know their state at the moment. The titans are after all sources of Olympian power, they destroyed our throne room and captured our demigod camps, we fear that they are after the underworld next. Once that happens Kronos will be able to convince Tartarus to join his side and all monsters will be unable to die. They will simply reform at the same spot they were turned to ash. Hades is currently in command of the underworld and as long as he holds the passages he will be able to keep that command. We need to be able to act before Kronos takes control of it, that is our main goal. I apologize for bringing you into this war Percy but we did not know where else to go. We will bring you home as soon as we know it's safe."

I waited a few seconds for him to say something else but apparently he as finished, I think he's waiting for any questions. "You mentioned two camps of demigods, what do you mean?"

"Demigods are children who are half mortal, half Olympian – "

"I know what demigods are, it's when a god or goddess falls for a mortal and they have children. I have only heard of one camp though and you mentioned two. What and where are they?"

"Ah, I understand now. Which camp are you familiar with?"

"The one the centaur Chiron had taught at, at least that's what the myths say."

"That is the Greek demigod camp and yes, Chiron had taught demigods for millennia there. It is, or rather was called camp Half-blood and if any Greek demigods were born, they usually found their way there eventually. It was located on Long Island, protected by enchantments to repel any monsters and humans. The titans broke through the barrier and captured the camp, we know they did not kill everyone because we still receive a prayer or two but it is still a devastating blow. Those were our children."

"What about this other camp? You make it seem like there are Greek demigods, then others?"

"The Olympians have two different personalities, most do not know this but we have our Greek form which we are appearing to you as but we also have a Roman form that was created when the Roman empire adapted the Greek belief into their own. Any children that we have when we are in our Roman form are brought to New Rome, a city that is close to Mount Orthys, formally known as Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco. The two camps are not aware of each other because every time they meet they battle; it is in their blood to fight each other to the death. The wars are not small either, the largest one you might know well. It was the American civil war and many people lost their lives. So the two camps are a distance from each other and do not know that the other exists. That should answer your question."

"I'm telling you Poseidon, now is the time to reunite the two camps. In order to beat Kronos, we need the help of all the demigods available and have them fight together.". This made me jump as I haven't heard Hera speak through the past three days, she has stayed rather quiet.

"Hera, I know how you feel but the two camps have never been at peace. Once they see each other they will remember the old stories and be at each others throats in an instant. Also, all the demigods from camp Jupiter were taken captive, even if I agreed to this we wouldn't have representatives from both camps."

"Actually...I might know of a few Romans that weren't in camp."

"Hera, what did you do? You know we aren't allowed to help out our children no matter who or what is at risk. That has always been a law."

"Poseidon, I did what I had to. I talked to Lupa and told her to take a demigod on a quest, I did not tell her why but just said that it had to be done. She had made a good choice also, she had taken one of the praetors, Jason Grace. He had taken two others with him, Frank Zhang and Jessica young. Percy, are you familiar with our Roman versions?"

This was the first time she had spoken to me directly and it took me aback a little. I was a little familiar but could use a reminder. "I do know a few, like Jupiter is Zeus, Neptune is Poseidon and you are Juno. The others are a little bit fuzzy."

"I won't go over all of them but rather the three who are parents to those three. Jason Grace is a son of Zeus, as you know Jupiter. Frank Zhang is a son of Ares, Roman form Mars. And Jessica Young is a daughter or Artemis, also called Diana. These three all have strong parents and are all good fighters, upon coming back to New Rome they should be able to recognize what has happened and retreat. It is up to us to find them."

I had realized that the last part she was talking to the other Olympians instead of me, trying to bring them round to her side. Obviously Artemis had sided with her considering her daughter Jessica was one of the three.

"I agree with Hera, we should try and find these three Romans and introduce them to that group of Greek demigods that we know about."

At this I had to ask a question even if I was interrupting them, "Wait wait wait, there is a group of Greek demigods not captured? I thought you said that camp Half-blood had been overrun?"

Poseidon answered me, "It has but some demigods were out of camp at the time of the attack. They had saw what happened and retreated, they set up a base at the Empire State Building. They had actually rescued some others from the camp that were held hostage so we know that they at least have some skilled fighters. We do not know if there are any other demigods out there though. Greek demigods anyway as we now know there is the trio of Roman's out there somewhere."

"So we just need to go out and get the demigods and bring them back here, that's all. It doesn't seem that hard to do, I mean you brought us halfway around the world in a blink of a eye. Why couldn't you do it again?"

"That is a good assumption Percy and we have considered it but this brings us to the minotaur. We have been trying to figure out how they knew where to find us and I think we finally have an answer. For so long we gods have been up against lesser beings. Immortals that are less powerful than us but these titans, they are the brethren of our father. They have power equal, maybe even greater than ours so our thought is that they had sensed our presence in Manhattan and then focussed their powers there to find our exact location. If we travelled to the Empire State Building right now, then we would be taken captive. The titans will definitely have a brother in Manhattan looking for us all the time. If we go in, then he will know we are there and go to us before we can get everyone out. Not only would we be taken but the demigods will also be taken. If we go their base is compromised and we would like it to remain as safe as possible at the moment."

"So if you can't go in, what are you going to do? You have to reunite the camps somehow."

"We still have to figure that out, is there any more questions Percy?" The question was not so much as a question but to know that there was not much else to tell me and honestly, there wasn't much else that I was wondering about. "I think that's all, thank you for telling me though." With that I got up and left, hinting to my mom to follow.

 **2 Hours Later**

My mom and I spent the last few hours just swimming in the ocean, enjoying the nice warm air. Well I was swimming anyway, she was more just laying down on a towel taking in the sun that never ceased to be covered by clouds. Must be some enchant on the island, not that I'm and expert on gods sacred islands but it seemed reasonable enough to me. Then we had both seen Heather, Hera sorry come over. Her and my mom are having some words but I was too far away to hear so I came a little bit closer, still trying to make it look like I was out for a leisure swim. As I did some lengths going back and forth I hear a few stray sentences like "he might be the strongest demigod of the generation", "change the world for the better" and "key to save the camps". With what I heard, they must have been talking about one person the entire time, that is if they didn't switch topics when I was out of earshot which is possible. But if it is possible that if all that they were talking about was one person than that demigod must have some power and responsibility. It sounded as if Hera had been believing in him to reunite the camps all by himself, that isn't a light weight for him to be carrying around if people are relying on him to save the world.

When I finally decide that I've had enough time in the water I get out and start to dry myself off, I see the other Olympians coming over to us. They must have finally decided what they are going to do about the camps and how to bring the survivors together. As they came over I notice that they kept glancing in my direction which is kind of creeping me out, we all know each other well enough now for them to keep looking at me as if I'm going to do something random and surprising. Poseidon spoke up first.

"I suppose that Hera has already told you to what we have decided on?"

"She has told me what you think of him but that's all, he hasn't heard anything yet though" my mom responded. Now this part I know is about me, maybe I'm going to learn who this guy was that Hera had mentioned to mom. At this Poseidon turned to me and began to speak.

"Percy, we have talked for many hours on what to do about these camps and as we can't go ourselves to Manhattan, we do have the power to send someone there instead to tell them that they aren't alone and all that has happened. We have decided to send the only demigod we have with us and Percy, you have to succeed. The entire world is depending on you doing this. Listen carefully, the group at the-"

"Poseidon, I think you have it all wrong, I'm no demigod. I'm a kid from Manhattan whose mom just happened to have some friends that were gods. I'm no demigod." I couldn't be, I'd know if I were one. Plus, can't monsters smell them or something, I think they told me that a few days ago about demigods. Since I was still alive I think that's proof enough that I'm not a demigod.

"I'm sorry Percy but you are mistaken, you are a demigod and you know it. Have you not noticed that you have a fairly good understanding of Greek mythology? That's because it's part of your past and it's hardwired into your brain. Or why you are so good in gym? So agile when you need to be that is and strong at other times. That's because your body is made to fight sword to sword combat just as the ancients did it in the old days. You are a demigod Percy Jackson, and a fairly strong one if I am not wrong."

"But the smell, wouldn't I have been killed a while ago if I was one?"

"That would be thanks to Sally. You think she married Gabe because of his good looks or charm? No she married him because of how much he smelled to be frank. His scent masked yours so no monster had ever even hinted that you were alive. She did that to protect you." All the Olympians were staring at me, their faces straight and wondering what excuse I was going to come up with but I couldn't think of any. I look at mom and her face is in her hands and I have to ask her something, "Mom is all this true?". I am hoping she says no and all this is a misunderstanding but I know what she's going to say.

"I'm so sorry Percy, I should have told you sooner." She sounded like she was on the brink of crying but instead of trying to say that it was alright I run. I run halfway across the island until I can't see any of them anymore. There was no way this could be true, this meant that my dad was a Olympian god, and he had never showed up once in my life. I don't know how I feel, am I excited, am I angry? I can't tell, it's all mixed in together and right now I can't think and my mind is on overload right now. At this moment, I begin to faint for the second time in 3 days.

 **The Next Day**

This was getting embarrassing; I have never fainted in my life but that's twice now. God, I have got to stop doing that. If I'm mistaken though, I am pretty sure that the Olympian gods, the most powerful forces in the universe are now relying on me to save the world by talking to these demigods in New York. I can't even go half a week without fainting much less go and help out a group of demigods with world saving quests. This isn't my world; all I want to be doing right now is be back in my apartment wasting the summer playing any new video games that come out. Then again, apparently this is my world. I am a demigod as they had kindly pointed out, my mom had hooked up with a god from ancient Greece and I was born. That means I have a father who's a god, I wonder who it is. Wait, no, they aren't my dad, a dad take care of his family, he looks after them and makes sure that thy have the best living that they can give them. They don't knock up your mom then run for the hills, whoever my father is, he's only that in name. He can't ignore me for 16 years and then just come back when he needs us. That isn't how this works.

"Perseus, are you feeling okay now?". I kind of jumped a little at whoever called me considering no one ever called me my full name. I slowly look over and see that Poseidon is approaching me, almost cautiously as if not to startle me. "I know that this was a lot to take in, learning that you are a demigod and that we need your help. You probably have a lot of mixed feelings, surprise in finding this out, joy in finally knowing, yet mainly anger for not knowing all these years. Just know Percy, that we Olympians can only interact very few times in our children's lives and only when it is a dire need to. We are not allowed to go see them whenever we want, it has always been this way and we are severely punished if we do so. We do not know who your father is yet I apologize on his behalf Percy. I ask you not to blame him when you find him, know that it isn't his fault."

So what was I supposed to do? Let him in my life and act like he was there for the last 16 years? No, I won't do that and did Poseidon really think I would? "Why should I? He wasn't there for me for all these years and now why should I let him come back? It wasn't my decision that he abandoned us, it was his. "Why should I? Even if he couldn't have seen me he could have sent aa sign that he was watching. Anything would have been better than nothing.". I meant it, even if my dad had sent me a dream randomly one night at least I knew he was there but nothing was attempted in 16 years so screw him, he can stay as a blank face to me, Olympian god or not he's still not my dad.

"I understand your anger Percy, I also understand why your father chose not to follow you too closely, when we look over our children they tend to get killed sooner than when they are able to defend themselves so some of us are starting to turn a blind eye to some of our children. It's to protect them, not to hurt them.". The look on his face is telling me that he's telling the truth. His expression looks like he wants to cry but knows he can't, at least not in front of me. I know I shouldn't ask this question but I have to.

"Have you turned a blind eye to any of your kids?". I never got an answer, he looked at me sadly then turned around and walked away, after 10 strides he turned around and tossed something to me. It was a pen…what did I need a pen for?

"The reason why I came here was to check on you and to give you this, they'll explain how to use it when you are about to leave.". With that he turned his back and he was gone, teleported to somewhere. So I'm going to have a bunch of gods teach me what exactly? I already know I suck at cursive writing so I can save them the pain of trying to teach me that if that's it.

When I got up I realized that I had no idea where I was. Wherever they put me when I had fainted is somewhere that I've never been to before which was weird. Mom and I had pretty much toured everywhere since it was a fairly small place. Then I clued in on the darkness, not pitch black but I was definitely in some type of room that was underground and last time I checked there were no tunnels here. Wait, there was a cave entrance at the bottom of the amphitheater, mom and I hadn't been down there because we figured that it was somewhere special to Apollo and Artemis. There's only one door out but that room looks darker than this one, then again I either try that or I wait here for someone to pick me up like a little kid needing his parent from kindergarten.

Okay, this is not what I thought the room was going to be. It was dark because I was looking at a pillar that was just a few feet in front of the room blocking the entrance from most of the light being provided from the candles and lights above. (It was a weird mixture of modern and ancient lighting, didn't look all that nice to be honest). This was definitely a temple though; I've personally never seen one but it was the stereotypical layout of one. If you picture what you think a temple is, this is it. It has pillars surrounding the perimeter of the inside, the walls were made of huge stone bricks with large murals made depicting what I'm guessing the twin gods lives. In the back of the room in the middle were two gigantic marble statues of Apollo and Artemis. It was kind of scary how much they resembled the gods themselves, the only difference was that Apollo wore a one armed toga and Artemis wore a dress in modern times they dress a little more like we're used to. Overall the temple was a little overwhelming and I really just want to get out of there ASAP. How do I get out though is the question? Looking around there are a number of entrances that are like the one I just left, which is the one out? I go towards the one that's directly opposite the two statues, it makes sense for that one to lead out. The room was so vast that when I walked towards the exit, I could hear my footsteps echo off the walls and it was relief to leave the main sanctuary. And bingo, this was definitely the entrance, I can see a light through the door and the seats of the amphitheater just outside. As I walk outside I can't help but squint due to the change in brightness. Eventually the light became tolerable and as everything became clearer I noticed that everyone who had came to Delos island was here, minus Poseidon. The first thing I noticed was that mom's cheeks had traces of tears, she was crying and I know why. They decided to send me to New York right now. I don't know how but something Poseidon had said told me that this was going to happen and I was ready. Not in the way as I'm ready to meet a bunch of demigods who have had their camp sacked, lost their friends to monsters and forced to group together on the Empire State Building but rather I was ready to say goodbye to mom. Somehow I had realized that this was going to happen while I was unconscious and instead of fighting it I just accepted it. "We're doing this now I'm assuming?".

Apollo spoke up first, "We decided that sooner would be better than later. The longer we wait the more you won't want to go and the less likely we will reach the demigods before they are destroyed."

"So what exactly do I do when I reach the others?"

This time his sister answered "Just tell them that we are still free but do not tell them where we are, the less people that know the better in this case. Help them in whatever way you can and let them know that we will come as soon as we are strong enough."

"And if I'm attacked by monsters while I'm getting there?"

Apollo answered again, "Well let's say you can either run fast or hope that they have a few patrols out looking for other roaming demigods. Unless you know you can fight them off with something you find on the street." His tone sounded slightly like he was joking but I knew he was right, if I'm spotted my best bet is to run and if not, I'd be supper for one lucky monster. I had that pen Poseidon gave me and it sounded like he gave it to me as a weapon yet I somehow know that asking everyone here isn't what he meant when they would help. I think I'll leave that secret quiet to them.

Now Hermes stepped ahead of the others, "I will be teleporting you in since I'm the god of transportation, I will put you as close as possibly but you will still have a few blocks to go on foot. Any last questions?"

"Um yeah, just one. Is there anything you can-"and I was gone. That jerk didn't even give me another minute to finish my question. And am I in a dumpster? That a$$.

Looking around I knew exactly where I was, about 3 blocks from the Empire State building, about a 10-minute walk, maybe 15 since it's busy. This shouldn't be a problem. Dang it, I said it. In my life if there was one lesson I learnt it was never to jinx anything and I just did. Within half a block I saw two hell hounds and what I'm pretty sure were 3 dracaenae. And I must have smelt like a 5-star steak dinner because I caught their attention almost immediately. The hell hounds turned first and when they spotted me they turned and started coming towards me. At that the dracaenae turned and it looked like they smelt me also because they turned and started towards me as well. If there was a cue to run that was it but there's a problem. They are across the street but a little ahead of me so if I were to run straight, the way I need to get the others I have to run past right where they would be getting once they cross the street. I start sprinting surprising a few innocent shoppers and hoping to outrun these monsters. Never have I ever been more thankful for New York traffic, it slowed down the monsters for a few seconds at the very least letting me get ahead of them and a head start of a few meters. Now the dracaenae I can out run but those hell hounds are definitely faster, there is no doubt about it. Thank god the light was going my way when I hit the first intersection or else the hounds would have caught up to me.

I don't know how but I felt someone jump into my side from the alley way to my left and I went sprawling on the ground. As I look up I notice that a few people are above me all with what seems to be…are those bows? Yup, those are definitely bows and they are pointing to where I just was. I look down the street and see the hell hounds about 7 meters away there are the hell hounds. Nope, there were the hell hounds, the kids holding the bows above me just evaporated those monsters into dust. The hell hounds must have been blocking the sight of the other monsters because only now did they stop and see my saviours. The next moment, another volley of arrows had vaporized them as well.

The guy who pushed me to the ground was no guy at all actually, she got up and offered me her hand. I took it and she introduced herself, "I'm Clarisse and these are a few of my friends, who the hell are you?".

"My name is Percy Jackson and I just want to say thank you for saving my life, are you guys from Camp Half blood?"

"We are and the way you were followed you're also a demigod. Come with us a we'll keep you safe." So I followed these few demigods who were not far from my age and they brought me to the bottom of the Empire State Building. When we entered there was only one person in the lobby which was strange since this was a usually a busy building. She had blonde hair and she seemed relieved when we walked in. She came over to us and when she saw me her expression changed. "WHY THE HELL WERE YOU BRINGING THOSE MONSTERS HERE, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US ALL KILLED!?"

"Well hello to you to. My name is Percy Jackson since you asked so nicely. Those monsters had started chasing me a few blocks away thank you very much and I was coming here because I have a message."

"And what would that message be exactly?"

"Well the Olympian gods say hello, and they also ask that you don't kill me."

 _Sorry it has been a few days since I've uploaded but this is just a little hobby I do in my spare time. The stories hopefully won't be too spread out; a few days should be the maximum between chapters. Let me know how you like it so far! Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternatewriter_


	7. Chapter 7: We Fight Together

_Chapter 7: We Fight Together_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.**

 **Empire State Building: Percy's POV**

Okay, I've known this chick for about 10 minutes now, she doesn't know a thing about me yet I am pretty sure I am on her top 10 kill list at the moment. All I've figured out is that her name is Annabeth, everyone looks to her as if she were in charge, and that she can get really angry really fast. She basically attacked me when I came in the door with Clarisse and the others giving me an earful about why I lead all these monsters close to their base, like I meant to almost lose my life running to them to help them. As soon as I told her that the Olympians sent me I couldn't help but smirk, she shut up real fast and hasn't talked to me since. Instead the doorway to the building was barricaded up and she placed two of the bowmen who had saved me as guards. I asked Clarisse (the one who football tackled me to the ground to save me) why we were barricading the doors, that would just get some weird attention from everyone walking by and she said something about mist and hiding things from mortals. Overall it was not a very good answer but I rolled with it until I had some more time to ask her again.

After they had set up everything that Annabeth instructed we headed to the elevator to go somewhere, where I didn't really know. Maybe they had a secret base on one of the floors, there were dozens to choose from anyway. When we entered Annabeth took out a key and placed it in a keyhole beneath all the floor buttons which was weird since I've toured this building a few times before and never noticed it yet. When she put it in though a new button appeared, floor number 600 appeared above the others and she hit it. I have never ever felt a feeling like that before, it felt like the elevator was going 400 miles a minute and we somehow hit floor 600 in less than 10 seconds. When we entered the elevator my first impression was that it was just like any other teenage hide out in the city. There were a bunch of kids my age, a little over a dozen or so, spread out around the central peak where the top of the building starts to turn into a point. It seemed like they were living there though looking at the number of makeshift beds and rooms (old mattresses and little rooms made by cardboard walls with curtains across the entrances). It's really a wonder how they got all this stuff up here without anyone noticing. One thing was off about this little teenage hideout though and that was the number of weapons lying around, not guns but swords, spears, bows and whatnot. There were close to 20 different weapons lying beside "rooms" or just scattered about, not exactly the typical thing a teenager has in this time period.

Annabeth had told everyone that had been in the elevator with us to rest and get ready to go out again but she told Clarisse and I to follow her. I don't really know why I follow her orders but the authority in her voice told me that this was one girl that you didn't tick off unless you want your head parted from your body. She leads us to the other side of the peak and the sight stopped me dead in my tracks. The view I had was blocked from the top of building when we exited the elevator but now that we are on the other side I saw what the gods had talked about. There was a pile of rubble lying beside the top of the Empire State Building and the look of sadness that the kids gave it whenever they glanced in its direction means that it could only be one thing. That pile of rubble is the remains of Mount Olympus. When they said that it was destroyed, I hadn't expected this. I imagined temples on fire, columns on the ground but not the entire thing reduced to stones and boulders. Finally, it's hitting me how extreme this war is and honestly, it's terrifying. Whatever force was able to do that was not something I wanted to be against. Annabeth took us to a door that lead into the peak of the building and inside is just a small room, was probably used for storage before they took the roof over as their camp. It now had a desk in it with a chair behind centered on the back wall and there was a couch in the corner that looked like it had been used as a bed for a while now. The objects on the desk were what confused me though, there were maps of Manhattan and Long Island covering it with arrows and marker on them everywhere. It seemed confusing and all Annabeth said when she saw me looking was "scout movements and monsters" as if that explained everything. She walked around the desk and sat down and asked us to move the couch so we had somewhere to sit also. Clarisse and I had moved the couch so it was in front of the desk and that's when Annabeth started. "Clarisse, what happened out there?" It was a simple question but her toned made her sound exhausted and that's when I noticed the bags around her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"We were doing a light patrol around the perimeter and then we saw this guy running down the street with a hoard of monsters following him. It was obvious that he was being chased so we ducked in the alley that we had just come out of and waited for him to pass. When he did I got him out of the way and the others took care of the monsters. They have been sent back to Tartarus." She gave this as calmly as if she was giving a speech in front of a class rather than almost being killed by a bunch of monsters. Then again this was probably an every day occurrence for these kids. I kind of feel sorry for them, no one should have to live like that, in constant fear of being found by those things. I can't begin to say how much I don't want to be here long enough to feel the same way.

"What was chasing him?" Annabeth asked. I'm starting to notice that she's not even glancing in my direction, she's purposefully ignoring me.

"There were hell hounds and dracaenae, it was just a small party that was scouting around the city. They weren't looking for him specifically, if they were than they would have sent a larger force. Like I said, this was just a scouting party that we see travel around the Manhattan."

"So you think it was just random that they found him and they were running towards here?". Her tone sounded accusing, as if she thinks that I was leading the monsters here on purpose! Had I not told her who sent me here already. Figure I should probably intervene.

"Hey now, there is no way-"the glare Annabeth gave me made me stop dead in her tracks. Her gaze was almost as strong as that old myth Medusa's and it froze me stopping me from saying anything else.

"Yes and no" Clarisse responded, "it was a coincidence that he was chased, I believe that he didn't expect to be chased. But I do believe that he meant to run in this direction but not to lead them. To come to be safe. That's what I think anyway. What do you think Annabeth?"

"Same, I don't think he meant to lead them here but he wanted away from them, that's all. Can you give us some privacy now Clarisse? Go and get rested, we need you on patrol tonight.". All the brunette did was nod and leave the room.

"So, what did you say your name is?" she asked. So finally she recognizes my presence, it only takes a empty room is all.

"My name's Percy Jackson and to be honest, you could have asked me any of that."

"Why are you here Percy?"

"I told you, the gods sent me here to help."

"The god's have been taken over. The titans are now in control, the proof of that is the pile of rubble you saw outside that door."

"I saw that yes and now I know what they were talking about. Just so you know, there are some gods that are left. Not taken captive that is."

"Really? Who are they and why aren't they here?"

"There aren't many, there's: Poseidon, Apollo, Hera, Hermes, and Artemis. They can't come here because the titans will know. They told me that they can sense it if the gods themselves go somewhere but they can't sense anyone they send. Here is what they came up with, yours truly."

"So what can you do then?"

Um...did she mean what are my talents because if so I can play a pretty good recorder. I can swim, I'm not that bad at basketball but I feel like she didn't mean those talents. "What talents do you mean?"

"The gifts your parent gave you. You were sent by 5 Olympian gods, chosen by them. You have to have some power that is greater than anyone else.". Woah, didn't Hera say something like that earlier. Something about a strong demigod saving the world. The strongest of the generation? Now I don't know who it is but it sure isn't me. If my godly parent whoever it is gave me a power than I have no idea what it is.

"I mean I don't really think I have a power. I know I'm a demigod, but other than that everything is a mystery. I don't know who my parent is before you ask also. They sent me here because it was only my mom and I who were with them."

"So you don't have a power? That's okay, what weapon is your specialty then? Which do you prefer to use that is?". Was I supposed to be able to use a weapon? I mean my mom won't even let me use a knife in the kitchen. If I was ever to hold a weapon I think mom would have a heart attack so no, a weapon is not my specialty.

"What exactly do you classify as a weapon? I mean I haven't really used a actual weapon like a gun or a knife but I'm pretty good in my video games so if you gave me one you know I might not be that bad." I said this really hoping to get a gun, I don't know why but I think it would be really cool to be able to vaporize monsters like a sharp shooter in my games online.

"You're kidding right? That was a joke?". The look on me face must have told her that I wasn't kidding and she seemed slightly baffled. "You haven't used a weapon before in your life? How many monsters have you sent to Tartarus exactly?"

"As in turn them into sand? I think that number is 0. Yeah, pretty sure I haven't sent any of them to Tartarus. But like I said, you give me a gun and who knows, I might be the best soldier here.". Really still trying to get a gun here.

"We don't use firearms.". The look on my face must have looked upset because she continued "The bullets won't harm the monsters. Only celestial bronze does and that is found in swords, axes, arrows or a number of different weapons we have from Greece. The bullets would not scratch them yet a weapon from us" as she pulled out her knife "will send them straight to the pit from where they came." She set her knife on the table and I could see what she meant from bronze. The knife wasn't steel which I'm used to seeing but definitely bronze. It was ornately built and the handle had carvings in it which I couldn't make out from where I was sitting. The blade had a faint glow to it and I guess that's from the 'celestial' part. Honestly it looked a lot more threatening than any gun I've seen and instantly wanted one.

"So how exactly do I get a 'celestial bronze' weapon?"

"We have to figure out which weapon best fits you first. We can't give you one in case you hurt someone trying to yield it. Did the gods mention anything about what you could use? Give you anything that could be a weapon?"

"Nope, no one said anything or gave me— ". At that I remembered something and felt in my pocket. Sure enough there was the pen that Poseidon gave me and I remembered what he said, 'they will teach you how to use it'. I reached into my pocket and took out my pen. "Poseidon gave me this. It's the only thing that I got from any of them."

She picked up the pen and clicked the end. The next thing shocked me, the most surprising thing happened when she had done that. The tip of the pen came out. She took out a pad of paper and what do you know, it even writes! Now I don't know what I expected, it was just a pen but something told me that it was something more than a pen. Something told me that this was what I was supposed to use. "Can I see it for a second?" She clicked the pen to take the tip back in and she tossed it to me. When I caught it I pressed the bottom and this time I was surprised. Next thing I know I was holding a sword made of the same metal of her knife in the same hand that I was holding the pen. The hilt was covered in leather and the blade was a glowing bronze. It was honestly a beautiful sword but not only was it good looking, it was terribly well balanced. I felt like if I put the sword on a railing on its side it would sit there perfectly.

"Anaklusmos" Annabeth said and she snapped me out of my trance. "What was that?". "Anaklusmos, I think it's the name of the sword.". I looked to where she was and sure enough it was there on the blade. Engraved into the bronze was the word 'Anaklusmos' and instantly I said out loud "riptide". Annabeth looked slightly surprised at me, "that's the English word for its name. So you can read Greek eh? That's kind of a relief, for a bit there I was wondering if you really are a demigod."

"To be honest I didn't know I could read Greek; it just came to me. Is that normal?"

"Oh yeah, everyone here can. It's a sign that we have parents from the ancient times. So that's a pretty clear sign, that sword will be your weapon. Did they tell you how to use it?"

"No, I didn't even know it was a sword until now. All they said was 'they will teach you how to use it'. I'm assuming he was talking about you guys teaching me how to fight with this sword. Really, I'd be okay with just learning the basics. You know, just enough not to get killed if I ever get in a fight."

"If the gods had said that then we will have to train you as best we can. Come out with me."

I followed her outside and she brought me back to the elevator picking up a sword off the ground on the way. She pressed the button 599 and the doors opened up to a fairly large sized room with mats on the ground. There was two people sparring on the far side, a guy and a girl. The girl was obviously winning, pushing the guy back with each swipe of her sword. The guy was barely able to block each new attack with his spear. After she pushed him back a few feet she lashed out with her leg and the guy fell, she was on him with her sword at his throat in an instant. They turned and saw Annabeth and they both got up and left right away.

"What was that about, why'd they leave?" I asked Annabeth.

"I usually like to train in quiet and they all know that. It's not because they have to leave but they usually let me train by myself. They're just being nice is all. Now come on, let's see what you've got."

She walked out to the centre of the room and I followed her, standing a few feet away we faced each other. She lowered into a ready position, her feet apart and sword slightly out front of her I one hand ready to attack or defend. I mimicked her pose as closely as possible but I instantly knew that I looked like a complete idiot at the moment. She slowly walked towards me and for some reason I knew what was going to happen. She was going to raise her sword and go for a overhead strike, then she was going to go for my left. That exactly happened and I blocked both of them easily and lashed out my sword instinctively. She easily parried it away but backed up a little and commented "nice reflexes". I couldn't say anything because after that she launched into a real attack swinging her sword like a demon. She swiped down for my head, both of my sides, my legs, she was literally attacking every part of my body possible and somehow I was still standing. Somehow I was able to tell where when was going to hit next before she swung her sword so I was always able to get mine there first. I can't don't know why but then seemed a perfect time for me to press my attack. I started hacking away at her sword showing how untrained I was. I hit her sword with a downward strike again and again with her blocking each one. With her distracted on my sword, I decided to try something. On my last swing I stepped closer to her so she couldn't swing her sword and shoved her away with my shoulder. She wasn't expecting this and she was forced back a few feet unbalanced and I swung my sword at her harder than I knew I was able to and she raised her sword to block it. The force combined with the fact she didn't have balance pushed her onto her knees and she fell on her back. I lowered my sword and said something I always wished to say; "Do you yield?". I then grinned at her and offered my hand and she smiled back and took it.

"So you lied eh? How long have you been using that sword for?". She thought I'd use this before? It felt comfortable in mu hand but I am 100% certain that I have never used a weapon in my life, much less a medieval one. I was certain she was taking it easy on me to see what I could do.

"That was my first time…you were taking it easy on me right?"

"I was until you pushed me back a little. You say that was your first time with a weapon? I have to say, you could be a lot better than what I had originally thought. I wasn't trying my hardest but still, that was by no means taking it easy on you. Let's go again."

As she turned her back I swore I could see out of the corner of my eye the elevator door close. Was somebody watching that and if so, who was it? Oh well, I turned back to Annabeth and walked to the centre of the room again. "Ready to lose again" I mocked her and there was a small glint in her eye that slightly terrified me. She got in her ready position and I followed feeling slightly more comfortable this time. When she advanced something was different though, her eyes looked like those eyes that cats get when they are closing in on their prey. They narrowed and I instantly knew that she was scouring me looking for a weakness. If she wants to play it that way then fine, I won't show her any. I took a step towards her to make her stop coming towards me and it took her eyes away from scanning my posture to focussing on my blade. As I took another step ahead she stayed her ground and we were just out of reach from each other. I figured since she was clearly waiting for me to attack I'd taunt her, "So what, are you just going to stare at me all day?". Sadly, she didn't fall for it.

"Honestly I was hoping this would end soon so I can stop staring at you.". Okay, that was a low blow. I kind of smirked though, admiring at how fast she could come back at me showing she was not going to fall for a cheap trick like that. Fine, let's get down to it. I ready my sword and take a step towards her and that's when she launched her attack. She swung towards my left thigh, I parried it easily confused as to why she would choose there of all places and then noticed that I had done exactly what she wanted. When I hit her sword it went out in front of us and my momentum carried my body so that my sword was across my body. She had stopped her sword so that it was just a few inches from my gut ready to stab me. She lunged and I have no idea how but managed to spin out of the way hitting her on the back with the flat of my sword on the way. She tumbled a few steps then turned around catching her balance. She looked very surprised as to what I just did, slightly less surprised than all I was. I just grinned at her and acted like I meant it and that apparently got her a little mad. She lashed out with her sword and every thrust or swing she made I blocked and parried. After a minute of this she gave up and backed away obviously taking the defense and I took this opportunity to push. I did an upper cut with my sword drawing hers down also to parry it and right before contact I changed the speed and angle of my sword so that it deflected off of hers at an upward angle and I was able to lightly hit her in the head with my pommel before she could react. With that I jumped back to see what she'd do. All she did was say "Again". I advanced and this time she was a lot more aggressive in her defense predicting what I'd do before I'd it but every now and then I'd get a lucky hit in on her. She was obviously skilled and taking it easy on me but up until now I had just been doing random attacks to see what felt right. Still this whole fighting thing was different to me, it's going to take a while to get used to it. After a few minutes of attacking I backed off a bit letting us catch our breaths. I think she has been trying to analyze my fighting style this entire time, trying to find a way around me but I definitely gave nothing away. That's because I have no style at all. I swing my sword and see if it hits, if not I try again. This time something was different though, when I raised my sword it felt more natural and when I stepped towards her I knew how to win. I closed the distance between us and went for a slash across her chest. A easy parry for her but I caught her swords hilt with mine and angled my sword against hers so the my blade was pushing against her blade. I could feel that our strength was slightly in my favour but not by much so I tried something that had about a 10\5 chance of succeeding. I let go of my sword with one hand and grabbed one of her wrists. I pulled it and the surprise move took her off balance and she spun around and I pulled her n close so I had my arm around her neck and my sword point at her collar bone.

That's when the applause broke out. I don't know how I missed it but it seems like half the kids that were here at the building came to watch Annabeth and I fight each other. Apparently she doesn't lose much because in the applause I saw a few faces of awe, maybe surprise is a better word.

"Hey Percy, good fight." Annabeth said behind me. I turned around and she had her hand stretched out and I shook it. Honestly, that was a lot of fun and I couldn't wait to do it again. Maybe I could actually learn how to use this thing one day. Who knows, maybe I'd actually be able to actually defend myself one day. "Yeah, you too. So how'd I do?". There was a bit of laughing at my last comment and I turned around to see what was funny. This guy came from the group he had blonde hair, a slightly buffer average build and his hands were calloused, my guess from using a bow.

"Percy, right?", I nodded my head, "Hey, my name's Will. We were laughing because no body has been able to beat Annabeth in a fight in years. Unless they're from Ares but that goes without saying, so either you are one of his kids or you have been training for years."

"Well I can honestly say that I haven't been training for years but the Ares part might be true, not entirely sure. Haven't figured that part out yet."

"Well whoever you're from, I'm glad to be on your side especially if you haven't used that thing before. Did you bring it though? It seems nicer than any sword we have here." I looked down at my sword and then looked at the ones on a weapons rack on one side then at the weapons a few of the kids brought down. They were all basic looking with no engravings, this one was definitely the coolest.

"Yeah, I was given it by someone I met. Didn't know it was a sword until now actually." I'm not sure how I knew but I pressed on the bottom of the hilt and the sword shrank and became a ballpoint pen again…weird. Everyone gasped and by their reactions I assumed that no one else had a weapon that doubled as a writing utensil. That's when Annabeth came to my rescue and helped me avoid any more questions that I couldn't answer.

"Alright everyone, he's not a bad fighter. We can all see that now go on with your chores. I know you all have some left to do.". After a fair bit of mumbling everyone went into the elevator and it was just her and I in the room again.

"Thanks for that, I was starting getting worried about any more questions."

"Don't mention anything about the gods to them okay? I don't need them to start getting hope that they will come to our rescue. History shows that us demigods have to fight our own battles. If there are only 5 Olympians, then they can't do a whole lot anyway against the titans. I don't want the others to put their guard down, got it?"

"I understand" and I did, completely. I got the whole thing where she didn't want them to know to protect them. For how long did I tolerate smelly Gabe with my mom, I knew I couldn't tell her what I really felt or she would be hurt. Really the same thing just different circumstances. "So what do we do now?".

"Well training is done for today, you look spent so go get some rest and then you can join a patrol tonight. You know Clarisse, the brunette who jumped you from the alley. Find her and tell her what I said." She turned around and left me alone in the room to find a spot to rest by myself. Nice talk.

 **2 Hours Later**

Okay, so maybe I was tired a little bit. Apparently running for your life from monsters, seeing the most powerful place in history (Mount Olympus) in rubble and then sparring for a half hour makes you pretty tired. Luckily I was able to find that Will guy and ask him where a good place to crash would be and he let me use his 'bed' (pile of blankets) for a few hours. Before I passed out I asked where I could find Clarisse and he said to check the training room that I fought Annabeth in, she's most likely there. Apparently she spends a lot of time there practising.

I make my way to the elevator and notice that there doesn't seem to be as many people here as earlier in the day, whether they are out in the city or training I don't know but it's almost eerie how quiet it is. I press 599 when I get in the elevator and the doors open up to a sight that almost shocked me.

There Clarisse was but she wasn't alone. I count 5 people in the room, Clarisse and 4 other guys. The thing that shocked me is the fact that the 4 guys were all armed and facing Clarisse, one on each side of her. I was never good at math but those were unfair odds so I was about to jump in and help her before I heard her say "You guys ready?". That made me falter and the look the guys had on their faces told me that they didn't want to do this. It was 4 on 1 though, how could they be scared? They all started walking towards her in a protective stance and she just stood there with her spear in her hand and a sword strapped to her back. She wasn't in a stance, her spear was vertical and she seemed to be leaning on it as if she was lounging around rather than about to be in a fight against 4 trained individuals. When they were a few meters away the kid nearest to me charged towards her and this is when I figured out why they all looked so scared. She stood up and kicked the butt of her spear that was on the ground so hard that it went up away from her and smashed into the guy's chin and he collapsed in a heap. The other three stopped and watched as their friend was knocked out in a second. They looked at each other and they all advanced at once. She took a step back and at the same time swung her spear in an arc across her body forcing the 3 to hold their ground and stop their advance. She held the spear at her waist level with the ground and was ready to thrust it at the first one to approach. Obviosuly none of them wanted to do it alone so they held their ground waiting for someone else to attack her, she took advantage of that. Once the kid on her left looked at the other two she thrust her spear into his gut knocking him down and she pulled it back ready to face the other two. Watching that I almost got sick until I saw the kid roll over and notice there was a lack of blood on his shirt. His clothes must be spear proof, that or she has a really dull spear which I doubt. So a 4 on 1 turned into a 2 on 1, this isn't what I expected to happen. Now she pressed on the offensive and pushed the other two kids back towards the back wall thrusting her spear and keeping them both busy with parry's. Her aim was so good that with each thrust, they would parry it but the position would make it difficult and awkward to block so they would be off balance with each attack keeping them from counter attacking. She could have won the fight several times already but she kept them in it for fun it seemed. She then caught one off their guard and her spear went low towards her ankles and with a twist she tripped him and smashed his head with the butt of her spear. While that happened the last opponent was regaining his balance from her last attack. Seeing his friend down he backed away from the wall to the centre of the room to give him more space. Now it was 1 on 1, Clarisse took out three of them in less than 2 minutes. She walked towards him casually, with 5 meters between them she tossed her spear towards him lightly so he would catch it. While he was distracted she slid on her knees, withdrew her sword and had hit him in the back with the flat of her blade knocking him down all in one movement. That was all 4, she had won.

She turned towards the elevator and noticed me and smiled, "Enjoy that?". I think I looked like an idiot complete with the mouth wide open and shock in me eyes. "But…How…You just beat four of them…". I could only mumble out partial sentences at the time still getting over the shock of her beating 4 people at once.

Smiling, she offered me her hand and when I took it she said "Name is Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares."

"Ares as in the war god Ares? So is that why you're such a good fighter?".

"Well I wouldn't give him all the credit but I guess. So what brings you here?". She changed the topic as if her just fighting them was a daily thing. Then again it might be.

"Annabeth told me to join your patrol today, Will said you'd most likely be down here. Said you were down here in most of your free time."

"Percy, right? It's a war right now and everyone needs to be the best they can be. We need for all of us to be warriors and training is how to accomplish that, more people should be down here training."

"To be honest, I don't think you need any more training."

With a smirk she said "Let me introduce you to the patrol." And she turned around towards the teenagers eh just beat. She said the first one she knocked out was named Connor, son of Hermes, one she hit in the chest was named Lee, son of Apollo, the on she tripped was named Miranda, daughter of Demeter and the last one was named Jake, a son of Hephaestus.

"So you just fight your patrol in your spare time and knock them out? That hardly seems like training to them does it?" I asked her.

"Not everyday, twice this week to see what they have accomplished. The first time we did this they were down in the first minute so this was progress. Remember I have trained my whole life, they started when Olympus fell."

"Speaking of which, how did you avoid getting captured?"

"A few of us were out of camp, we saw what happened and set up base here. We saved a few of them in a raid on camp a few days ago. Can you get me a pack out of that box?" She asked pointing to a wooden box in the corner of the room. I went over and picked up a baggie with something that looked like a lemon square and tossed it to her. She caught it and gave each of the campers some and looked at me answering the question I was about to ask. "Ambrosia, it's food from the gods and it helps us heal faster. We have plenty of it from a raid we did before we saved the others. Apparently the beasts don't enjoy it enough to guard it at all.". When they got some ambrosia in them they each started to stir and within a few minutes everyone was up and walking around.

"Alright, now that everyone's up, this is Percy. He's going to join us today when we go out and speaking of that, it's that time. Get your weapons and meet me at the elevators." With that everyone went up to the roof and started to get their things.

When we got back to the elevator everyone had their preferred weapons. Jake and Connor had swords and shields, Miranda had a dagger, Lee had a bow and Clarisse had her spear and sword. "Which weapon do you want to use Percy? Just take a spare one from some where." Clarisse told me.

"Didn't you see his sword earlier? He brought one with him and he isn't that bad with it either, he beat Annabeth in sparing." Lee mentioned for me.

"Can I see the sword?" I was asked. I reached in my pocket and took out Riptide and gave it to her. With a smirk she looked up and said "If I wanted a pen I would ask for a pen so unless you beat Annabeth with this let me see your sword.". Now it was my turn to smirk, I took it back from her and hit the bottom, the ball point pen was now a double edged sword able to slice through monsters. Her face showed shock but that was only for a moment. She quickly regained her composure and acted like that was a normal thing for a pen to do. "Alright, you're armed. Now let's go."

 **An Hour Later**

So nothing has happened. We saw some empousa, a few hell hounds and dracaenae but nothing too special. They said that these were the typical sightings around Manhattan now. Ever since Olympus fell, monsters have been roaming the city with no one to stop them and send the back to Tartarus. So we sat back and observed, not going any closer than a block to anyone. We only did a circuit 5 blocks away from the tower and did a circle a few times making sure all was well. We were walking back and noticed a group of monsters a few blocks away from the base, normally we'd leave them alone but this was different. They were in the exact same spot where I had been chased earlier. Not close to where I was chased but the exact spot where they noticed me, not a meter off. That's when one of the hell hounds turned his head and looked in our direction, seemingly right at me and let out a blood curdling yelp. This obviously wasn't normal behaviour as the others in the patrol were frozen in the spot. Clarisse snapped out of it first and before she could give an order the call was answered. We heard more yelping in the surrounding streets and saw a group of monsters 20 strong coming towards us from the opposite direction of the Empire State Building. Now there was a group of monsters in front and behind us so we did the only sensible thing. We charged towards the smaller group. Lee had already dispatched the hell hounds and the dracaenae fell to Clarisse's spear before they could turn around but we couldn't stop to take a breather. Dracaenae, hell hounds, cyclops and a few other monsters I didn't know were coming our way. What was 20 now seemed to multiply in size, even the mortals seemed to know something was wrong and were running out of the way. The only chance we had of surviving this fight was to go to base and get everyone ready to fight for their lives. This was going to be interesting.

When we got to the doors we noticed the room was full of demigods all armed and ready for battle. Only 25 or so though so we were still outnumbered.

"We saw what happened, everyone is down here right now. You can take charge of the infantry; I'll direct the support. Don't let them reach the elevator.". It was Annabeth talking to Clarisse, looks like we'll put up our stand here. The kids with bows were put on the sides of the room and spears were put in a shield wall in front of them to protect them. The demigods with swords formed around Clarisse and stood shoulder to shoulder with swords in one hand and shields in the other. They looked ready to put up a good fight before they fell.

"Percy, you come over here with me, we'll watch and send reinforcements where they need to go." Annabeth called to me. I looked at the 'reinforcements' she said about and it seemed like we had 5 other demigods who were not in formation. Not the number I was expecting. She saw the look on my face and reassured me "They're from Ares, they will put up a fight and stop any breach made, don't worry. We'll make it through this alive. It isn't the first time we have fought.". She didn't ask about how they found us but rather set up everyone as best she could to limit the lose of our lives. What surprised me the most though was my expression. I though that I'd be terrified but instead I was ready for this. I was actually looking forward to this. It seemed like this was the one thing I was meant to do and I wanted the monsters to go through that door.

"We'll make it through this.". My tone sounded so sure about it, it took both of us aback.

"You seem pretty confident?"

If anything my response was even more confusing, "I am, you beat these guys before alone. Now you aren't alone, we'll fight together."

With that the doors flew open and all hell broke loose.

 _This one took me a while to write so I am sorry it took so long to post. Finally getting into some action and will start introducing the characters a little bit more in the next 2. Post any ideas or comments! Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternatewrite_


	8. Authors Note

**Author's Note**

 **Hi everyone. I will keep this nice and short. I want to apologize for the late publishing's I have given in this story and I just wanted to explain why. I don't have a lot of free time as I have a full time job which ends at 11 p.m. and am about to go off to school, so my life is hectic at the moment and the only time I have to write is at midnight. So I am sorry about these late chapters but I will do my best to keep them coming regularly. In no way am I considering stopping the story but if anyone has any ideas on characters, plot or anything else feel free to put it in the comments or pm me. I have an idea where the story is going now but it is always up for a change if anyone suggests it. Just tell me what you would like to see whether it's romance, more action, a adventure or whatever and I'll do my best to add it. Thank you once again for reading my story everyone, have a great day!**

 **-Alternatewriter**


	9. Chapter 8: Almost an Escape

_Chapter 8: Escape...Almost_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.**

 **Mount Orthys: Kronos' POV**

"Kronos! We have them!". My brother Prometheus came into the throne room acting like we had just won the war. "Those demigods in New York, we found them. They were staying at the ruins of Mount Olympus, why we didn't check there I don't know.". I gave him the task of finding those demigods a few days ago, apparently he just found them now. He should have found them the hour I sent him, I don't know why it took him, a titan, days to find a number of weak demigods.

"What took you so long brother?"

"Did you not here me? They were staying at Mount Olympus; it is ruined but its power is still strong enough to enable its disguising magic. We can not sense anyone weaker than a god in it. One of the patrols were out and saw a small scouting party, the hell hound sent out a call warning everyone that they found demigods. They were pursued back to their base and were followed by about 50 monsters."

"Go and find Atlas, tell him to send a force to help with those monsters you sent. How many can you send to keep the vigilantes busy?"

"I can send close to 200 mixed troops; why do I have to find Atlas exactly?". His questioning was slightly infuriating. No one should be asking me why I say what I do or why I give such orders. I am the one who toppled Olympus after all, I am the one who defeated Zeus.

"Do not question me Prometheus. After all I have done you had better just do what you are told and move on with your orders. You are my brother but you are still under my command so you will do what I say without question, understand?". He stood there looking at me with a grim expression and with a nod he left the throne room to find Atlas. Atlas was the king of monsters and could summon them wherever he wanted at a whim. He will send a force that will ensure the destruction of those demigods are complete. I have no need for them to be alive anymore, the demigods we have now will do just fine.

 **Third Person POV**

Prometheus made his way to Atlas' old prison, it sits at the top of Mount Orthys where he used to hold the sky preventing it from hitting the Earth. This is where Ares, the god of war now resides taking Atlas' old punishment as his own. The prison was a little redecorated now though, instead of a ugly mountain top which it used to be, the place where Ares was on a elevated platform, a throne sat in the middle of the room facing the god as if Atlas enjoyed watching him struggle under the burden which may very well be the case. The entire room was made of jet black obsidian stone like most of the palace but there were statues of Atlas surrounding the outside and murals of monsters attacking demigods and gods on the walls. The king of monsters was not on his throne, he was standing off to the side talking to one of his lieutenants, the gorgon Medusa getting an update. "Our numbers are swelling by the thousands every 6 hours now my lord. Soon they will be enough to beat even the undead army of Hades in battle." she told him. As soon as Atlas saw his brother he ordered the gorgon to the side and await further orders. "Ah, Prometheus, how are you brother? Still chasing demigods through the city?" he mocked Prometheus.

"Very nice to see you too Atlas. That is why I am here, our brother Kronos does not believe that I have sufficient forces to deal with the demigods. I have sent 200 monsters that I had at the ready and he still wants you to send in reinforcements."

"Very wise of him. You should never underestimate the strength of demigods now brother. They may seem weak but compared to an average monster they are quite strong. Medusa, come here.". The gorgon walked over and stood straight waiting for an order. "Where are they and how many are there Prometheus?".

"They are at the Empire State Building and there are 25 of them."

"Alright, send another 1000 monsters into Manhattan and you lead them personally to the demigod base. I want you to be there to tell me they have fallen. You may use my power to summon the troops and yourself there.". With a nod she disappeared and she along with a thousand other monsters appeared in Manhattan.

"Atlas, you summoned a thousand monsters in the busiest city in the continent. Do you know what panic you are about to cause among the mortals?".

"Not nearly as much panic as we will deliver within a week's time. They are mortals anyway, they will see something different and believe it. Now we wait for the gorgon to come with news of the demigod's death. Maybe she'll bring back the leader's head for a nice decoration…" he said with a small grin.

 **Empire State Building: Percy POV**

If you asked me 2 weeks ago "What are you doing this summer?", I would have answered "I am going to do my best to do absolutely nothing.". I had planned on playing on my computer, maybe see my friends and go to the beach every now and then. If only that had happened. Now I have been sucked into a world full of legends, I have met gods, found out my dad is one of them and now I am about to lose my life to a bunch of mythological monsters that I didn't think existed a week ago. So not exactly what I had planned for my summer vacation. I, along with about 25 other demigods, are trapped in the lobby of the Empire State Building about to be attacked by well over 100 monsters all intent on killing every demigod here. As it is the front doors are empty and none have come in yet, we have archers on the flanks covered by kids with spears and a formation of us armed with swords in the centre to keep the monsters from flooding in. Our reserve force consisted of a total of 5 people, let's say it isn't looking good for us. There was no chance for retreat, the only way back was a elevator and that could only have 8 people so we have to stand and fight. We can only survive by turning every monster to dust.

Annabeth seemed a little shaken at the moment and for some reason I wanted to steady her, "We'll make it through this.". My tone sounded confident and she visually started to calm down.

"You seem pretty certain of this?"

"You've already beat these guys before by yourselves. Now you have some help."

"And what help would that be exactly?"

"I'm here now, we'll fight together.". I was about to make a joke about my training for a half hour will make me invincible but the explosion kind of ruined it. The monsters had waited long enough and they charged the front doors blowing them off the hinges.

A wave of dracaenae charged through the doors first, there was one set of double doors so the forces they could send through was limited and the first few that went through didn't make it 5 feet before they were brought down by a volley of arrows. That didn't faze the monsters behind though and more and more dracaenae charged in. Soon the arrows were not enough and the first monsters had reached the sword wall but they met the same fate. The skill of the demigods was too great and monster after monster fell until the first wave was destroyed and ash from a few dozen dracaenae covered the floor. Not a single demigod fell in this engagement, a few had some minor injuries but nothing that prevented them from leaving the line. Clarisse left her position which was the center of the swords line and went to talk to Annabeth. "That was nothing, just a party to test our defenses. If that was the forces they could spare as a test, then they have a lot more troops then what we thought.".

"How many are we talking about?" I asked impulsively.

"I'd say over 500, no one would send out almost 50 troops to test our defense unless they have a sizable force to send afterwards. The next attack will be much bigger and a lot stronger. I can guarantee that."

Without thinking I looked around at the demigod's formation and noticed something that was wrong. I don't know why I noticed it but I saw a weakness in the line. The swordsmen were amazingly trained but a large force will push them back and break their line with their weight. No matter how skilled they are they won't survive for a minute when they are forced to fight by themselves. "We have to change something" I told them. "There's a problem with the formation.". Annabeth looked at me with raised eyebrows and Clarisse looked like she was about to kill me.

"This was my formation, it's the best we can do with this size of force. My dad is the god of warfare which includes warfare formation and Annabeth, the daughter of the goddess of wisdom agreed with me. But if you can find a flaw in this then please point it out.". I told them my thought and it was dismissed right away. "The archers will thin out any force capable of doing that. They have quivers enchanted by Apollo so they will never run out of arrows. Any force will be thin and we can take them on no problem.".

"What if they advance with shields together on the sides? Or they keep attacking until you're too tired to fight?"

"You assume that these monsters are capable of holding a formation? You have only been here for a day, only seen monsters from a distance. You've never fought them so you wouldn't know that they are mindless. They charge in and attack anything within sight. They don't follow order's; they are blinded by their rage of all things Olympian."

"Maybe that's the problem, you've been fighting them your entire life but they haven't had a master until now. They took over your camp, no monster could do that without a strategy and commands from somewhere. My guess is that a titan is their leader, wasn't one of them called the King of Monsters or something?". That's when Annabeth's eyes turned from thoughtful to panicked.

"He's right Clarisse. That's Atlas, he was the general of all forces from the titan army. He controls all armies and he would be able to send the monsters in any formation he thinks will be the best to use. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier but Percy's right, we need to fix our troops. Have everyone retreat to the elevator, we will send up groups 5 at a time until all of us are up. You, me, Percy, Will and Connor will be the last up. Create a defensive circle around the doors. With a nod Clarisse went to reorganize the troops and send the first group up to the roof. The monsters must still be deliberating on how to attack because we were able to send the spears and 2 of the swords up before we heard a yell of rage. Cyclops had charged through the door first and these monsters were not easy to take down. We had a small semicircle of 5 swords, Clarisse and Connor forming a semi circle around the elevator doors with a few archers being protected. They fired the arrows and the cyclops seemed to be unaffected by them, if anything they got angrier. I instantly knew I was right about the formation, these monsters would have charged right through the line and the demigods would have been slaughtered in seconds but I couldn't take any praise at the moment. The cyclops eventually fell when they hit the reception desk each with 5 or 6 arrows protruding from their chest and they fell in heaps of dust.

Dracaenae were behind and they were armed with bows and they started firing at the semi circle forcing us behind our shields. Our archers were outnumbered 3-1 so they could rarely loose an arrow to try and narrow the advantage the enemy had. Surprisingly the dracaenae had failed to hit anything but a shield and the elevator came back down, the archers loaded into it and we had another half minute until it would come back, that means another minute until we can retreat into it ourselves. As the bow-armed dracaenae kept a steady stream of fire the lobby started to fill with an assortment of monsters. More dracaenae were in the ranks along with empousa and cyclops. There were also others I hadn't seen before but have been told about in class, there were Laestrygonians (giant cannibals), wolves that were twice the size of any found in a zoo and others I didn't know. There was easily 200 in the lobby and at the moment there was 10 of us. I am not a gambling man but I am pretty sure these aren't good odds. The bows had stopped firing and the monsters rushed us all at once. The shield wall was lucky that we were already against a wall or we would have been thrown to the ground. I saw one demigod have his shield ripped away and an something had taken his wrist and pulled him into the crowd. Annabeth stepped in his place and now I was the last man not fighting. I saw a demigod raise his shield to block a sword strike from an empousa but he missed the spear stroke from a Laestrygonian a few rows back and was impaled through the chest and fell to his knees. I instinctively stepped in his place and now there was 7 of us left. I had my sword in my right and a shield in my left and ready to face any monster that entered my reach.

A dracaenae had come towards me first and I dispatched it with a quick thrust from riptide. Next a cyclops had stumbled it's way forward and it being a few feet taller than me and much stronger I knew one hit would cause my death. I attacked first surprising it and lashed out with my sword causing it to backup a step and I sliced his leg closest to me making him lean over in pain and I severed his head turning him into dust, stepping back into formation I got ready for the next. A few monsters just saw how easily I destroyed that cyclops and 2 dracaenae came forward with an empousa. The dracaenae were armed with spears and the empousa had a sword. The 2 snake ladies had reach on me which was a problem but the empousa was my biggest worry as I knew she was a more skilled fighter. I blocked each thrust the empousa did with my shield and I knew how to get kill them finally. The next thrust I turned my body and dropped my shield at the same time grabbing the spear shaft and pulling the demon towards me slicing my sword across her chest killing her and turning to the other two. I impaled the other dracaenae with the spear but she fell with it still in her so I quickly retrieved my shield from my feet. Then the weirdest thing happened, the empousa didn't attack but started talking to me. "You should just drop your shield young demigod; you know you would like it much better if I killed you. Just drop your weapons and come here.". Was she kidding? Yes, I would love to go to you unarmed and open for any attack, best idea I've heard all day. Not. But as I looked to my side I noticed the person beside me start walking towards her with his arms at his side still holding his weapons though and that's when I realized what happened. Empousa had power in their words and she was persuading him to do what she says. I pulled him back quickly keeping an eye on any possible threats and noticed it was Connor Stoll.

"Connor, snap out of it! She's tricking you!" and with a shake he came to his senses and stepped forward but this time with a snarl on his face and his weapons ready. Before she could say another word Connor had cut off one of her arms causing her to scream then cleaved off her head with a single blow. Note to self, demigods did not like to be controlled. The monsters slowly disengaged as if they had been ordered to and as I looked at our small semicircle I noticed there was 6 of us, one more demigod had fallen in the time that I stepped up to the fight. A figure stepped from the crowd and I couldn't quite make out what it was because of the hood it was wearing but it was clearly in charge of the monsters. Maybe if I killed her the others would retreat…Another demigod must have had the same thought and charged. Right before he swung his sword it took off his hood and his body froze and looked like it was turned to stone. I could only see his back and couldn't see the monster but immediately knew what it was, Medusa had come to attack us. I shielded my eyes knowing the myth, her gaze could turn people to stone and this was obviously true looking at the frozen demigod. The others did that also but we could still hear her. "So this is the best that you Olympian children could do? Please, we've only sent a fifth of our force and we have you running back like a bunch of rats. Now who's in charge here? Surely you will listen to reason.". She stopped talking and I realized she was waiting for one of us to step forward. Before Clarisse or Annabeth could I decided that I would, those two were far more important to the rest of the demigods than I was.

"Here I am Medusa. My name is Percy Jackson and I have commanded these demigods since Olympus has fallen."

I couldn't see her face as my shield was covering my eyes but her voice sounded amused. "And why don't you show me those eyes young Jackson. Surely a warrior like you who commanded these brave mortals isn't afraid of a simple monster like me! But if you won't look, I suppose I'll just kill you when you're blind.". I heard a sword being unsheathed and could hear her footsteps towards me. "Percy, just fall back to the elevator! It's here!" I heard Annabeth scream but I knew that if I fell back the monsters would charge and everyone would be slaughtered. I barely know these people but I knew that they were worth fighting until the end for. I stood my ground and waited for her to approach.

"So you would sacrifice yourself for the others to leave would you? How noble, I'll kill you quickly then we'll deal with the others.". With that she started her attack.

I'm not a master at sword to sword fighting but I know it's not the smartest thing to scream whenever you swing your sword. Luckily Medusa wasn't that good either and she did exactly that and because of it I was able to blow her first few strokes with my shield. She kept swinging and every time I could feel where she was going to strike so I put my shield their trusting my instincts and it was working but I knew it couldn't last forever. She landed blow after blow on my shield but finally she got past my guard and felt something like a hot knife being sliced across my bicep. It wasn't a crippling blow and I could still use my arm but it hurt, a lot. I looked down at it to see how bad it was and it was okay, just needed a bandage but I noticed something else. It was my shield had that was hit and I saw the back of my shield when I looked down and noticed that it was polished and reflective. I remember how she had been killed before, the warrior had used the reflection to see her and fought her that way. I finally had a strategy. I turned around and walked a few steps to the elevator trying to trick her and she fell for it. "Where do you think you're going Percy? Leaving so soon?". I saw her in my shield and swung around with me eyes shut and swung my sword to where I knew where she would be. I kept my shield raised to block her strike and lowered my sword to strike her thigh. I felt a satisfying thud meaning I hit my mark and pulled back in a crouch with my back to her seeing her again in the reflection. She looked dumbstruck as to how her thigh had been cut open and she looked at me with surprise. "Why you little." And she took a step towards me but I quickly backed up until I was a mere 2 meters away and swung around with my shield out and hit her in the temple with it then followed with a sword strike and felt a shudder through my arm when it hit. There was a short scream and I felt her body squirm for an instant then I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and saw a pile of dust at my feet. The crowd of monsters backed up a step not wanting to face me and I took that time to run to the elevator the others held open for me. They just stared at me as I hit the 500th floor and the doors closed just as the monsters charged again. The others didn't say anything until we got to the roof out of the elevator.

"How on Earth did you do that!" Annabeth and Clarisse shouted at me simultaneously, Annabeth out of shock and Clarisse out of irritation.

"Do what? Fight her? I kind of just did what I thought would work best."

Clarisse spoke first before Annabeth could get a word out. "No one has beaten a gorgon since the original Perseus did millennia ago. I'm pretty sure you did it even faster though, I have never seen a newly trained fighter move like you. You act as if you've been yielding a sword for years, like you were born with it.". Her tone sounded slightly accusing as if I'm holding out on something yet I feel like they are missing the bigger picture.

"Alright, I have no idea how I did it but there's a problem here. A horde of monsters is downstairs, there's only one way up and down and we are trapped up here. What do we do?".

Annabeth stepped forward to speak, "Percy is right, the enemy won't be able to come up here with a large force, a could at a time max so a minimum of 10 troops need to keep watch at all times until we know we can leave. We'll set up a barricade out of what ever we can use and go on from there. Percy, can I see you for a second?". I had no idea what she wanted to talk about but after she arranged the watches we went back into her room. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what? Fight her?"

"You stepped up when she asked for the leader yet you have only been here for a day. Do you really think that you have already taken over this camp?". This astounded me, here I was trying to save her life but all I get in return is an accusation? I didn't need this.

"Now hold on a minute, that isn't what I meant. You are far too important to these kids to lose. If you lost to Medusa, which you would have, the others would have been beat. There is no question about it yet I only the other hand, barely know anyone. If I lost then you could escape up here, it was to save your butt, not to show I own these kids." I could tell that she instantly regretted what she had said.

"But honestly, how did you defeat Medusa, she is, was sorry, one of the strongest monsters in Tartarus, definitely one of Atlas' top lieutenants."

"Like I said earlier, I have no idea. I just fought on my instincts and it worked."

"ANNABETH, THE ELEVATOR IS COMING!" we heard from outside and we both rushed to the elevator and sure enough the doors were opening on the ground floor.

"Archers, to the sides, spears in front and swords behind as reserve. Hit them in the flanks and get rid of these beasts as quickly as possible." Annabeth ordered them. I admired how she acted under pressure, she never seemed fazed when others needed her. It seemed as if she knew the others were leaning on her and she had to be strong, it was admirable yet most likely very taxing. I couldn't think on this for long because the elevator door dinged and apparently the monsters are not the brightest without a gorgon leading them. 4 dracaenae left the doors and evaporated instantly by arrow fire. They didn't get a foot outside the doors. Like the attack downstairs though, they weren't going to give up after the first assault. The elevator was constantly going up and down bringing monsters to the roof but every time the doors opened a volley of arrows came through the doors and turned the creatures to dust. Every 30 seconds or so a few more monsters were sent Tartarus. After a few minutes of this the elevator finally stopped and we were able to relax. The archers put down their bows and they all looked exhausted from firing their bows non-stop ever since the first wave broke through the doors downstairs. The kids who were in reserve went to the elevator doors and retrieved all the weapons that the monsters had left when they were brought down, the demigod arsenal just about doubled in spears and swords thanks to the attack. We left 5 demigods, 3 archers and 2 kids armed with either a spear or sword to stay guard and everyone else was told to go and rest. Annabeth, Clarisse, Will and I all went back to the only room on the roof.

"Will, did you get the casualty report?" Annabeth asked.

"We lost 5 when we were retreating to the elevator. 1 was from Ares, 2 were from Hephaestus, 1 was from Hermes and the last was from my cabin, Apollo.". Everyone looked devastated from this but I think I took the news the worst. They were all used to losing friends now, in the past week they lost an entire camp's worth but this was new to me. My knees gave out and it was lucky I was in front of the couch or I would have hit the floor. I ended up sitting on it and tears were streaming from my eyes.

"It's all my fault!" I managed to get out. "It was me who told everyone to go back to the elevator. I am so sorry, it's my fault.". I couldn't say anything else, the feeling of horror and realization that it was my idea that killed them overwhelmed me.

"Percy, if you hadn't realized that our line was too thin then one of two things would have happened, we would either be done there fighting still with greater casualties or we would all be dead. You saved us from total annihilation back there and we all owe you our lives. Yes, we did lose friends, and we will mourn them but not now. Now we need to make sure that they didn't sacrifice their lives in vain. We need to make sure that those beasts downstairs don't take any more of us.". Annabeth's words calmed me down a little but I still couldn't shake the feeling that it was my fault. She was right about one thing though, we couldn't think about them now, that had to wait. Right now we had hundreds of monsters all waiting for a good moment to attack and wipe us out. We had to think of a plan.

"Clarisse, how many do we have left?"

"We have 21 including us left. The numbers aren't the problem though, it's where we are. There's only one way up and one way down, the elevator. They can't come up without being killed and we can't come down for the same reason. At the moment we're at a stalemate. We don't need to worry about titans because Olympus' magic still prevents them from teleporting in, they have to come in this way and they won't bother to go through all that just for us. Our real problem is food and water, we have been scavenging for a while and have next to nothing. A day's worth is possible if we ration." Clarisse answered Annabeth's question.

"Alright, we have 21 against several hundred. We can't go down so we have to wait it out for as long as possible. Is that the longest we can stretch out the food and water?". Clarisse nodded her head and Annabeth didn't look like she was happy with that answer. "Alright, so we have a day to think of a plan. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

No one spoke up but something popped in my head. If we wait here then we'll be tired and hungry, the monsters will be waiting. There isn't any plan anyone could make unless someone can make food and water appear out of thin air so there was only one thing we could do. Fight. They weren't going to come to us so we would have to bring it to them. "We have to fight them downstairs." I said out loud. The looks everyone gave me were priceless. They ranged from surprise to confusion to outrage, I almost laughed at how everyone looked.

"Are you serious?" Will finally spoke up.

"Think about it, we will be in no condition to fight in a day. We have one way to escape and it's through a horde of monsters. If we wait a day then they will be expecting us, if we charge as soon as possible maybe we can take them by surprise. I'm not saying we kill every monster out there but get outside and try to get away. We split up so we won't be as easy to track and meet together somewhere and make a new base.". It seemed a good idea to me anyway,

"It's not that simple Percy" Annabeth said. "The reason we chose Olympus in the first place is because of the magic border around it. The power kept the titans from knowing where we were, any large group of demigods can put up a huge presence that any powerful entity can sense. If we all escaped and met up somewhere they would know where we are instantly."

"So we don't all meet; we lay low until we can put up a fight. The gods are still free remember, some of them anyway. Once they get enough strength they will start their attack to free the other gods and we come out of hiding at the same time."

"And where do you think everyone will go Percy? Our camp was destroyed, Mount Olympus is in rubble, we have nowhere to go. This was our last fall back."

"I don't know okay, I just know that this is our only chance. If we wait for tomorrow then we will all die, this is the only way to survive. I recommend that everyone gets some rest, we leave a guard up and everyone else gets some sleep. Now if anyone has another idea then please speak up, I'd love to be wrong.". Honestly I did, if anyone else had another idea I would love to side with them. I hated my plan but it was the only that didn't end up in us dying. When no one spoke up I got worried that we were actually going to go through with it until Annabeth spoke.

"He's right, you three go and tell all the campers. I've got to get rid of these papers." As she nodded to the desk. I was about to leave with the others when I remembered something. Something very important.

"Actually, Annabeth, can I talk to you for a second?". She nodded her head and continued on cleaning the desk off and the others left to tell the demigods of our plan. "I forgot something the gods told me until now. It's something important."

"Well what is it? Unless it can get us out of this situation I don't really care."

"The gods told me to tell you something, there was another camp Annabeth." With this news she stopped her work and froze.

"Another camp?"

"It's kind of like Camp Half-Blood they said. It's called Camp Jupiter but instead of Greek it's -"

"Roman" she said before me. "That was supposed to be a myth. Only a few of us had ever heard about it and that's only if we research about our history for a long, long time."

"They said you didn't know about it though; you weren't supposed to know about each other. They said something about civil wars and bloodshed whenever you met."

"I don't know but I knew there was another group of demigods out there. I'm a child of Athena so I like to research information and I was reading the records of past campers and noticed that there was a huge decline in the camp in the 1860's. I researched it more in the camps records and found that there was nothing on that time period. It was just erased from anything I could find it seemed so I read papers that were based on the following years and they talked of battles. They didn't say where or what for but the enemy was referred to as 'them'. I did more research about random battles that our camp had been in and it's happened several times and always spanned a few years, the enemy was always termed 'them'. I finally found a record that was hudreds of years old that talked about another Camp but I dismissed it. It didn't say anything else other than it was another demigod camp and I figured we would know about it so I figured it was false but apparently it wasn't. Did the gods say why we never found out about each other?"

"I already told you, whenever the two camps meet there is a civil war. Their kids fight each other until their numbers are critically low so the Olympians decided that it would be better if they never found out about each other. That must be why they erased the records."

"What does this have to do with our fight though?"

"The Gods told me that the camp was also over run but that a few demigods had escaped. They are supposedly the strongest in their camp and they said we were supposed to meet up with them. They didn't say where or when, just that we were supposed to."

"Well that's nice to know and if we survive today then maybe we'll try to group with them but until then go and get some rest. Your plan so you'll be in the first group, get ready.". It was obvious that she wanted me gone so I left and found Will and asked where I could sleep. He showed me where one of the fallen campers had been staying and told me I could use it. I said thank you and tried to fall asleep. It usually took me a little while to crash but I did it instantly and I instantly regret it.

Normally I dream about random things, maybe a day in class, maybe a nightmare where I fall to my death but this was different. I was on Delos island again but there was no one in sight. I walked around the island looking for the Olympians but more importantly, my mom. When I reached the amphitheater I finally found someone, I couldn't figure it out who it was but it was definitely not mom. I walk down the stairs and found that the man sitting facing away from me was Poseidon. "Thank you for coming Percy." He said without turning around.

"You make it sound like it was my choice. I went to sleep and here I am, it's not like I wanted to come here. Ever since you sent me to Manhattan all that's happened is I've been chased by monsters, they attacked the demigod base and they took over all but the roof of it. Being back here wasn't exactly on my top 10 list to do."

"I'm sorry about that Percy, I had no idea that the monsters would find you and attack so quick. The titan Atlas sent the gorgon Medusa and a thousand troops to lay siege to you today. I know that you have sent 300 back to Tartarus including Medusa. Good job by the way, that was some amazing sword work. And you were right, your forces would have been destroyed if you didn't retreat up the elevator and this plan is the only way to survive."

"Wait, you were watching us!". All of a sudden a feeling of hate flowed through my body. The gods watched as we fought for our lives. 5 kids lost their lives and all the Olympians did was sit their and watch! "We were about to be slaughtered and you just sat there! If you came we could have destroyed the entire force but no, apparently we aren't good enough for you all mighty gods!"

As I said that his face looked like he had been punched in the gut. He looked pained that I'd say something like that. "What did you want us to do Percy? Did you want us to come and help fight them? I have told you that we can't, if we did then the titans would have come. Not one or two but all of them and they wouldn't have spared you. They would have captured us, killed you and then they would only have the underworld left to take over. We couldn't Percy but trust us, we wanted to. We had to hold back Apollo when he saw his son die, he was about to go there and avenge him but we couldn't allow it!". Hos tone showed that he was on the verge of tears and my anger subsided, he was being honest and I know all the Olympians felt like this.

"Where is everyone else Poseidon?" I asked changing the subject.

"They're here but you can't see them. Remember Percy, it's just a dream, you are the one who isn't really here."

"Why did you bring me here then?"

"I have something to tell you. When you go downstairs you won't be alone. The others I told you about are there already. Hera has been giving their leader directions in his sleep and they travelled a lot faster than we anticipated. They will fight beside you but you have to get away Percy. Even with them though you will not have the numbers to take on 900 monsters. Fight till the doors and take the subway, you will have to split up into different groups and take different trains. Annabeth was right when she said the titans would sense a large group of demigods. You have to go now Percy but know that I'm proud of you. You have succeeded all my expectations. You will be strong Percy and the more you use riptide the faster you'll reach there. The sword still has some of the skill that the previous owner had and it will help you greatly. Remember to trust your instincts and please Percy, don't give up on us."

I woke up with a start and say Annabeth over me just about to shake me awake. "It's time Percy, we have the group you'll go with. Do you have a plan for where everyone will go yet?"

"I do actually, get everyone together and I'll tell them."

She got all the demigods together and I stood on a makeshift platform (the couch from Annabeth's office) and told them my plan. "Now listen, we have to be quick about this. Don't ask how I know any of this but just listen. When we go downstairs there is going to be some help but we have to hurry, they won't last long by themselves. When we get outside we need to go to the subway and we need to take separate trains and split up in groups okay? Go with people you trust, groups of 3 only. Go to a place where you think is safe and we will find you when we know it is safe to come out of hiding. Good luck everyone, I will lead the first group out the elevator and we will clear as much room as we can for the next groups. Let's go."

I walked to the elevator and kids from the group followed me, I turned and saw who would join me. There was Will who I found out was the best archer here, two kids from Ares and one from Athena. 5 of us against 900, let's go have some fun. I looked at them and nodded my head, the rest of the campers were going down in groups of 8 so we had to last for just a minute and then everyone would be down and we can leave. "Alright, let's go.". I let everyone go in first so I was the last to get in, I would be the first to get out. I pressed the ground floor button and we felt the elevator lurch to the lobby. Everyone tensed and got ready for battle. Then the doors opened.

I charged out of the lobby first and thankfully no monsters had noticed the elevator coming down or I would have been dead within a second. As it was, none of the creatures were watching the elevator and the majority had their back turned, for what I do not know. I ran towards the nearest monster though, a dracaenae and sliced through her neck disintegrating her. I looked to the side and noticed that the other 4 demigods had the same luck, we all got out of the elevator without a fight and managed to take out at least one enemy. I was about to slice through an empousa but they heard me, or smelled me or whatever, they noticed me first. The beast was able to parry my sword strike and yell to the others "THEY'RE HERE". The closest to us turned around and I noticed that we were all of a sudden hopelessly outnumbered. About 20 seconds had passed so we should have reinforcements at any time. We charged the horde of monsters which in retrospect was maybe not the best idea but it stopped them from blocking the elevator. Will stayed behind armed with his bow and his aim brought down more monsters than I can count. He shot every monster he aimed at with a clean arrow between the eyes and sent them to Tartarus but even with his archery, the Ares kid's swords skill and the rest our talents combined, we were already being pushed back.

I heard the doors open behind us and heard Clarisse yell "CHARGE". Instantly our numbers were doubled and the crowd in front of us was pushed back a few feet from the small charge. I looked to my side and saw that Clarisse was there unrivalled in skill by any monster in this army. Every thrust she gave, every slash and jab vaporized another monster. She easily defeated 12 of the enemy before the elevator doors opened giving us more troops but something was off. The enemy were several hundred strong so they should have been able to push us back no problem. "Someone take my place!" I yelled to someone in reserve. When I felt someone touch my back I backed up to let them take my place and noticed it was Annabeth. "What now Percy? How do we get out of here?" she yelled behind.

"I'm working on it!" I yelled back.

I looked at the force we were holding against and saw that there wasn't nearly as many as what we saw before. The room wasn't full and there was only about 100-150 monsters here, where are all of them? There was easily 300 when they forced us upstairs and there's no way we killed almost 200 already. Wait, the other demigods were supposed to be here…that can't be, they wouldn't send that many for 3 kids. "We have to push now! Everyone, push forwards!" I yelled to everyone. With a collective yell they started attacking harder and faster taking down monsters left and right. Their training proved to be too much and not a single hole in the line opened as none of our side fell. We pushed them back to past the reception desk and I had an idea. "Archers, get on the desk and use it to hit any target you see. Aim for the empousa first and any larger targets." The 6 kids armed with bows ran forward Soon the horde of monsters had trained fighters taking them down in the front and had a rain of arrows falling on the heads turning any cyclops and Laestrygonian into dust effectively wiping out all of the enemy's stronger forces. I told the archers to not let up and went to rejoin the line. I was about to go back to where I was and take Annabeth off but I realized what her and Clarisse had done when I was gone. There weren't any monsters in front of them, they seemed to avoid them and I saw why. As they advanced they walked over a fine layer of dust covering the floor which could only mean that they had killed a lot of monsters. Easily 10 each. I figured they didn't really need my help so I went down the line looking for any weak points in our line. I recognized that there was one small point where I think a daughter of Demeter and a son of Hermes were starting to get pushed back. They were fighting a formation of dracaenae and there was no way they could beat this number of enemies by them selves. There was easily 15 of them and I knew that if they broke through the line here then it would be like a floodgate. The monsters would turn and attack us on both sides and that would be it, there was no coming back from that. The two demigods were starting to be pushed back when I ran in. I jumped into the shield wall which may not have been the smartest idea but it took their attention off the two and solely on me. Luckily since they were in a tight formation it limited their attacks so I quickly backed out of range. "Anyone have any plans how to take these down?" I asked the others.

"You think if we knew how then they'd still be standing?" the Demeter girl answered.

"Alright, on my say so charge, break their wall and take out as many as you can.". Now I know it lacked any planning but there wasn't a whole lot we could do.

"That has to be the worst idea possible. We'll just bounce off the wall and they'll kill us." The guy said. He had a point but there was always a chance we'll die this fight so why not.

"1, 2, NOW!" I yelled and I ran forwards with the other two behind me. I ran straight for the middle and ran straight at the small space between two shields and miraculously still landed on me feet. I blindly slashed to my left and right and the charge must have taken them by surprise because both monsters turned to dust. Both of the demigods managed to do the same and effectively the shield wall was destroyed by half. The remaining 6 instinctively backed up not wanting to share the same fate but I wasn't letting them escape. I swung at the closest one but they got their shield up first. I pushed into their shield with mine throwing them off balance and thrust with my sword feeling it hit home in the monster's chest sending it to Tartarus. The others had the same idea and soon the dracaenae were all dust.

I backed up from the fight to take stock and noticed that we were almost ¾ across the lobby with no losses. The archers were causing the monsters to stay covered behind their shields disabling them from helping out the other being decimated in the front. So far we haven't faltered once and there was just about 50 monsters between us and the door. I went back to Annabeth and Clarisse and told them what was going on. "We've almost broke free. The archers are keeping the reinforcements from breaking through, the only thing is that they have clogged the doorway so we need to take that out."

"Alright, we 3 will go and take out that defense, how far away are we?" Annabeth asked.

"Only about 10 meters away. There's a few monsters in our way but there's at least 20 in the door. About half of their force here."

"Alright, let's go." We advanced and any monster that came our way was turned to dust within a second. We made it to the door and I noticed that there were fewer monsters than what I saw earlier and immediately knew why. We saw a volley of arrows fly through the air and a empousa ended up with a arrow in its chest and one in the head. Two others turned to dust before we got there, about 10 were left. We fanned out so that we covered any attempt for them to flank us and without a word we all charged forward. I raised riptide and sliced down to a dracaenae. She threw up her arm in a feeble attempt to block the blow but riptide sliced through it and buried itself in her shoulder turning her to dust immediately. I looked to the side and saw that I was already behind, Clarisse and Annabeth had already taken out 2 each. I thrusted at a cyclops leg hitting home and bringing it to its knees and decapitated it with the back swing. Any open monster flesh I would thrust home or if there was none I would hit riptide against the shields and swords to open up any weaknesses. Soon there was only a single empousa left and she was brought down by 3 thrusts by each of us into her chest and sides. "Clarisse, you hold the door and make sure that no one gets in." Annabeth told her as we jogged back o the others still fighting. We took out any monsters that were still fighting individually with the demigods and dispatched them with quick thrusts to their backs. Unbelievably we had taken the lobby without any casualties. "Clarisse, how does it look outside?".

"I see them all alright but they don't know we're here, they seem focused on something else."

"It's the others! We have to go now!" I yelled as I charged out the door. I'm not sure what I expected to do against about 600 monsters but I had to help. These demigods travelled across the country to help us, I wasn't going to let them die. The crowd in front of us hadn't realized that we had broken through the force they left in the lobby and we caught them unaware in the back. I cut off the leg of a hell hound that was directly in front of me and the kid next me, Connor from Hermes finished it off with a thrust to the neck. We got about a few seconds before the monsters turned and realized that we had escaped the building but it was already too late for those directly in the back. With adrenaline pumping through our veins we hacked and slashed through dozens of monsters as a unit and the archers kept up their fire taking out the harpies flying around above. At any monster I saw, whether it was a snake demon or a vampire, I turned them to dust. Soon we had them reeling backwards even though their numbers still heavily outnumbered us but they had no where to go. The majority of them were still focused on the demigods that came to our aid, if we didn't find a way to them soon then they would be destroyed. It's surprising they haven't fallen yet; they've been fighting for a while now for so few people. I was about to back away and try to find a way around when I heard a yell a few people down to my left. I instantly backed away and ran to who was hurt, it was Annabeth. A dracaenae was standing above her with her spear pointed to her chest about to thrust. I threw my sword not expecting it to kill her but it distracted her long enough to get to her and tackle her off of Annabeth. I got riptide back and dispatched the monster. I pulled Annabeth away to keep her from anything else reaching her and checked to see what was wrong.

"What happened?"

"That snake lady got me in my thigh with her spear when I was taking out a Laestrygonian. How bad is it?". I saw blood slowly seeping through her pants, I'm not a doctor but that can't be a good sign.

"I see a fair bit of blood, what do I do? I haven't done this before!" I asked. I'm starting to feel panicked because I have never been good around blood. Usually by this time I'm fainting but this time is different. I was more worried about her than passing out which is not a normal feeling.

"Go and get Will, he'll fix it up. You go back and make sure we keep pushing.". I nod and run to go get Will. Once I tell him what to do I go back to the line looking for any weak spots. Everything seems to be fine so I join in beside Clarisse. Her armour is coated with a thick look of dust and a red aura is covering her, I think I read about this happening to some warriors and it's called the 'blessing or Ares'. She was an unstoppable killing machine. In the few moments I watched her she and sliced a dracaenae in half, decapitated an empousa and dismembered a cyclops. Now I understand why none of the monsters are approaching her, she looked like she would kill any enemy in her way whether it was a monster or titan. Nothing could stop her, nothing at all. I backed away deciding that she didn't really need my help and went to the far left of our line and noticed how much progress we had made. There couldn't be more than 350 monsters left between us and the others. Not sure how but we had killed well over 200 of the enemies. To be fair we probably killed 100 in the charge and Clarisse has probably killed 100 on her own but still. That's when I saw lightening up ahead and witnessed well over 3 dozen monsters of all kinds being turned into dust. The entire front line wavered and I noticed why the others were still alive, they were boxed in a small store it seemed holding the front door. They weren't fighting in the open like I imagined. Regardless, they were obviously well trained and skilled yet we needed to find a way to them and we can only keep up this attack for so long until they push us back with their numbers. I remember all the papers and maps Annabeth had on her desk and a idea is coming to me. I run over to her and see Will standing up and helping her to her feet, the blood on her pant leg has stopped spreading which is a good sign. "Hey Annabeth, I found the others. They're holed up in the store right there, is there another way into it other than the front entrance?"

"Um yeah," her voice sounded slightly strained, she was still in pain from her wound, "there's a roof access. The ladder to get up is in the back, why?"

"I have a plan how to get us out of here. We can't win this fight no matter the progress we've made if we keep on going ahead like this, there's too many. We've stopped pushing and soon we'll be pushed back ourselves. Just when you get my signal fall back and pretend to retreat, try and divide their forces. You decide when you turn and attack again."

"What's the signal going to be?". I could tell she was in a fair bit of pain because she didn't tell me to do anything stupid but rather what the signal was.

"You'll know it when you see it." And with that I ran to the right side of our line and looked for an alleyway I could go into. The battle line was across the street, sidewalk to sidewalk and the store that the demigods were held up in was on the right side. I ran through the alleyway and took the closest left and took an alley that went parallel to the street. I ran forward trying to look for any monsters, the store was only a block away but the enemies surely had to think of attacking them in all entrances possible yet it didn't seem that way quite yet. I ran past an alley that ran to the street and heard a shout so I turned and saw a hell hound with a few dracaenae in it, most likely covering the alley from any attempt of attacking their flank. I stopped behind the corner to take them out before I got to the store, I didn't need to be chased and give the enemy another way to attack when we are already close to being wiped out. I waited until I heard the hell hound's paws hit the pavement right before the corner and blindly swung my sword where I though it would come out and sliced riptide straight through his skull. The sudden attack made the dracaenae stop and falter which ended up being their mistake. I quickly sent them to Tartarus and moved back before any other monsters saw me. I finally reached the back of the store, at least I think it's the right store and find the ladder beside a dumpster which smelled kind of like Gabe used to after a few drinks.

I climbed the ladder and was not expecting what happened next. Someone grabbed the collar of my shirt when I was about to reach the top and pulled me up the ladder and threw to me the ground. Next thing I know there's a guy above me who was built like a rhino, guessing he was the one who pulled me over. There was a girl beside him armed with a bow which was pointed in my direction. "Who are you and what are you doing?" the guy asked me.

"My name's Percy Jackson, I'm from the group of demigods that was in the Empire State Building. We're attacking the monsters from behind but we're about to be pushed back and if that happens none of us will live. I have a plan but I need to talk to whoever made that lightening earlier.". They both seemed dumbfounded at what I just said as if they didn't believe that I'm a demigod. "I can prove it to you later but right now we have to save the others. Where is the lightening guy?".

"Come on Frank, I think he's telling the truth. Let's bring him down to Jason and see what he says."

"If you think it's a good idea then okay, I'll take him downstairs, he wants you to stay up here and keep up the fire. I'll keep an eye on him." The big guy said. He offered my hand and helped me up which was quite the change from his earlier questions. "So you're Percy huh? Jason will want to talk to you."

"Wait, you know who I am? How?"

"He'll explain it when you talk to him.". Both of them seemed really relaxed and calm considering they just travelled across the country and are now fighting for their lives. But right now I needed to hurry, my friends didn't have much time left. A few minutes at the most. He leads me downstairs and we go through a door that lead into what seemed to be a grocery store. It must have been out of business because the shelves were all empty and the windows at the front of the store were boarded up. In the door was a kid about my age, maybe a year older but what was most surprising is how well he did in combat. Looking where he was he was standing on easily 2 inches of monster dust meaning that dozens of monsters had fallen where he stood. We came closer to him and Frank took out his sword and I followed his lead taking riptide out of my pocket and turning it into the sword. Frank eyed me warily as he saw what my sword did but didn't say anything of it and kept on walking towards the door. "Jason, we have a visitor for you." Frank said. Jason was a bit preoccupied at the moment facing two cyclops at the same time. When one swung his club towards his head he easily ducked it and blocked the spear shaft with his large Roman shield that was thrust at him from the other. The curve of the shield made the spear go to the side and Jason stepped forward and sliced a line across the cyclops chest while the other was regaining his balance from his attack. With his partner turned to dust the other backed up warily and at the moment he was unengaged.

"Frank, come take my place.". With a nod Frank stepped forward and Jason backed up, now Frank was guarding the door with his sword and shield. Jason stepped towards me, "Percy right? Let's go sit." And he walked to the register and sat on the counter. How on Earth did he know my name, how did anyone of these guys know my name.

"So you're Jason then, how exactly do you know my name?"

"We've been having visits from Juno ever since we left Camp Jupiter. She told us to go here and expect a battle and meet a young hero named Percy Jackson. Wince you came to us I assume it was you and by the way, we weren't quite expecting the battle to be an entire army. What exactly happened here?"

"I promise I'll explain everything but right now we have to help my friends. They won't last long but I have a plan to get us all out of here.". I told him my plan and he looked at me like I was an idiot but nodded his head.

"I don't know if it will work, your friends might get hurt also but then again, it might work. We have to go to the roof.". I followed him up and we went to the side of the roof where we could see the enemy army and a block away a thin line of demigods fighting for their lives. I noticed that the line was thinner than when I left which meant that more of the group had fallen.

"We have to do it now! They're about to be over run!"

"Jess, back up okay?", she stopped firing her bow and did as she was told. Jason walked up to the edge of the building and raised his sword and yelled "I, JASON GRACE, PRAETOR OF THE TWELFTH LEGION, SLAYER OF MONSTERS AND SON OF JUPITER CALL UPON THE POWERS OF MY FATHER TO DESTROY ANY MONSTER WHO OPPOSES ROME!", right before I was about to tell him that the gods couldn't help, he flicked his sword in the air and it transformed into what looked like a spear but instead of a tip, it had a statue of an eagle on it. He raised the banner and yelled into the sky and a bolt of lightening came down struck the spear and he thrust it towards the back of the enemy's army. I looked in awe as I saw dozens of monsters evaporate from electricity and soon my friends were standing by them selves, any monster in a 10-meter radius had been vaporized. I saw Annabeth turn and yell something and they all retreated in different directions scattering like I told them to, hopefully trying to reach different subway stations. Jess quickly ran forward and I wondered why until I saw Jason start to fall of the roof, it seemed like he almost passed out and had no energy left in him. She quickly grabbed his arm but his momentum was going to bring them both over if I didn't help so I ran forward and grabbed her arm puling them both so we all landed on our backs on the roof. All of a sudden I heard and explosion downstairs and that never means something good happens. We all looked at each other and I knew that Jason couldn't go anywhere by himself so I did the only thing I could think of. "Jess, you stay here and make sure he's okay, I'll go see what happened." I ran down the stairs and I was stopped in my tracks. The explosion definitely wasn't good, not at all.

 _This is by far the longest chapter I've written and hopefully won't be the last one that's over 10000 words. I hope you guys like story so far, I'm trying to figure out a way to bring in Piper and Leo and everyone but am struggling for ideas. If anyone has an idea, then put it in the reviews or pm me! If you have any ideas in general, then feel free to do the same! Thanks for reading!_

 _-Alternatewriter_


	10. Chapter 9: Thanks for the powers dad

_Chapter 9: Thanks for the powers dad_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.**

 **Last Chapter**

 _All of a sudden I heard and explosion downstairs and that never means something good happens. We all looked at each other and I knew that Jason couldn't go anywhere by himself so I did the only thing I could think of. "Jess, you stay here and make sure he's okay, I'll go see what happened." I ran down the stairs and I was stopped in my tracks. The explosion definitely wasn't good, not at all._

 **Minutes Before, Mount Orthys: Prometheus' POV**

He's going to be furious but there's no way around it. Atlas and his great army has failed us, even 1000 of his troops with one of his most powerful lieutenants weren't able to take down 2 dozen demigods, pitiful. If I was able to take them out my way they would be dead already but noooo. Kronos has to show off his power by sending hordes of our troops everywhere. Now who has to break the news to him? Of course I do, the one who found them in the first place. Let's get this done and over with.

"Kronos, we have a problem!". The almighty lord looked startled at my entrance, slightly angry that I made him jump in surprise. "Those demigods you sent Atlas' monsters against are still alive. Actually, most of our troops are destroyed."

"WHAT! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!"

"Well let's see. They took over the lobby and then the monster in charge challenged the captain of the demigods and the gorgon was slaughtered. Apparently she was turned into dust within a minute of the fight so for the last few hours our forces have fought leaderless with no direction. Atlas hasn't done anything and has failed to give any leaders in his captain other than his top few monsters so the demigods counterattacked a few minutes ago and now they have taken back the lobby. At the moment our forces are being decimated and we might lose this battle."

"But...How…The demigods were nothing. There was just 25 of them, how did they do this?"

"Their leader goes by Percy Jackson and apparently he's quite skilled. They also have the strongest demigods in the camp with them I have heard from the monster I interrogated but there is one other thing that seems to be interesting. Those 3 demigods from Camp Jupiter that escaped, we have them there. Somehow they got to Manhattan without us noticing but right now they are part of the reason why our forces are failing. The are attacking our other flank sandwiching in our force. If we don't do something soon then they'll escape. What are your ideas brother?"

"This is quite concerning, if these are the strongest demigods then we either need another large force or something stronger.". He looked up at me and there was a glint in his eye when he saw my face. "I know, you will go and kill these demigods. Show anyone opposing us that the power of a titan is far greater than any demigod no matter their strength. Go and flatten them all then come back with their heads. Now brother." He waved his hand and woosh I was in Manhattan.

The view was interesting, I was there for about 10 seconds, heard a kid yell something on top of a roof and then saw lightening strike down dozens of monsters and almost 15 demigods run away from the back of the force. It was so surprising I was rooted in the stop and when I could move everyone was far gone already. No matter, we'll round them up soon enough. Now about the others in the building, the Romans. There's no way they could have escaped. Aw, that's cute, they left a guard in the door way, let's get rid of him now. I sent a bolt of pure fire towards him and he saw it just in the nick of time and raised his shield somehow blocking the blow but the explosion knocked him back several feet onto the ground at the base of what was a door to the roof. The blow destroyed everything in the store, my apologies if anyone still worked here. Now to finish him off though and move up to finish off the other pesky little demigods.

 **Percy's POV**

Nope, not good. The big guy Frank has ash all over his face and his skin is blistered where ever it was open to the heat of the blast. He staggered to his feet and was glaring at the doorway and that was when I followed his glare and noticed someone there. He was average size, 6 feet tall maybe with medium length black, curly hair. He was extremely well built and I immediately though titan. Typical I found with gods and titans he had a trimmed beard, also black, and was dressed in fairly modern clothes. He had what seemed to be a flame in his hand, I think he was the one who caused the explosion. Something jumped in the back of my mind and I think I know who this is, something with fire. He helped humans a long time ago by giving us fire but was still sentenced by the gods, apparently he holds a grudge. I can't remember his name though.

Frank looked up at me, thank gods he wasn't dead and staggered to his leaning on his shield. He turned to the titan and taunted him; "Come on, is that all you got?".

"You Romans are so cocky, even when you know you'll lose you still try and show arrogance, just accept your fate and it'll be quick.". Instead of laying down his weapons Frank lowered his stance and got ready to fight. The titan sighed and with a flick of his wrist a sword appeared in his hand, a deadly black blade made of something I don't know. "Fine, slow and painful it is. Then I'll move up to your friends."

He walked towards Frank slowly and calmly acting as if this was nothing at all. Frank took his calmness as a weakness and charged when there was 10 feet to go. He leaned into his shield to push the titan off balance but instead the titan leaned back and stuck out his leg tripping Frank. The son of Mars fell face first but instead of killing the demigod all the titan did was touch Franks open calf with his finger. An instant later I saw smoke come from their connection and Frank screamed in agony from the burn the titan was giving him. The titan did the same to the other leg and Frank nearly passed out in pain. "I told you to give up but no, you Romans fight to the death. Let's see how much pain you really can take centurion.". He was about to touch Frank again, this time on his arm when I threw my shield at his head. Surprisingly it hit him square on, exactly where I aimed and he staggered back holding his temple clearly having one hell of a headache. Unfortunately, it didn't knock him out like I hoped but it gave me enough time to reach Frank and pull him to the stairs.

"Frank, go upstairs and tell the others what happened. Get out of here if you can, go to the subway and look for 2 girls, Annabeth and Clarisse. They know what to do."

"But what are you going to do?"

"I'll stay here and fight him, I'll delay him for as long as possible."

"But Percy, he's a titan. I've trained my whole life and he beat me with out swinging his sword. How are you-"

"And I have about 10 minutes of training so I think I'm more qualified for this. Leave it to me, don't worry." I turned around not allowing him to reason with me and saw that the titan was getting over the throw I did. With a final shake of his head he stared at me unbelievingly.

"You dare throw a shield at me demigod? Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of, well not entirely sure but yes, I do dare. What are you going to do about it?"

"I am the titan Prometheus." So _that_ was his name, "I gave fire to you insignificant life forms and all that happened was I got thrown into Tartarus. You ungrateful swine need to be destroyed."

"So you can really hold onto a grudge eh? What was that? 3000 years ago?" I kept stalling figuring I can last longer doing this than fighting. Frank had a point, he was one of the strongest fighters in the world with years of training. I have killed a few monsters but am no where near the calibre of these guys.

"One tends to remember millennia in Tartarus young boy. It is hard to forget actually and by the way, you can keep stalling but they won't get off the roof. I will kill them in just a second.". Crap. Well stalling isn't working.

"Well if that won't work what are we doing? Are we going to fight or keep chatting?". I lowered into a stance that I thought was correct posture and got ready for any attack he threw at me. Riptide was still in my pocket so all I got was a sneer from Prometheus.

"You are brave enough to face me unarmed? This will be my quickest kill since I went into Tartarus!" With a yell he charged me, quicker than any opponent I had faced, including Annabeth and all I could do was take Riptide out and turn it into my sword deflecting his downwards swing to the side. The blow took me back a few feet but incredibly I was still alive. "Impressive Percy Jackson, but now your surprise is gone, too bad you'll never find out who your parent was." With that he charged and gave me no time to attack back. He was so quick that after I parried one attack, another would be coming in from the other side and he kept forcing me back. Luckily the explosion destroyed all the shelves and the store was basically one bug training room like the one Annabeth and I fought in. Sadly, my opponent now was a angry millennia old titan who wanted to kill me. I knew I couldn't hit the wall or I'd be dead instantly but I also knew that I couldn't attack, the only choice I had was to try to create space. I rushed in forward inside his ark raiding my sword to block the blow and tried to push him back with my shoulder but it felt like trying to move a mountain, impossible. I leapt back and saw him staring at me with confusion, like 'Did you think that would work'. I took the hesitation to jump to his side where I had more room behind me and turned to face me to attack again. That's when I felt something in my gut. I don't know how but I knew there was a water pipe underneath me, just a small one but it had a huge amount of pressure and it snaked through the building. Once again I have no idea how I know this. I can also sense that it's fed from a main water source built underneath the main street, a sewer. If I can sense it then maybe…I might have a plan. Whenever I do something quick and unpredictable, he seems shocked that I would do something and hesitates, maybe I can get outside. The monster horde I'll deal with if I have to. As he's turning to face me I slash Riptide at me but he parries it with a flick of his wrist, he takes a second to get ready for attack and I take that time to turn and run to the door. It must have worked because I heard him mutter "What the…" as I ran. I made It out the door and the feeling in my gut intensified greatly. Then I noticed the monsters. There were hundreds all around me and I realized that even if I could beat Prometheus, nothing but a miracle could save me. Hopefully it's enough time for the others to get away.

"Percy! You are not a great fighter but I give you credit for surviving this long. Most do not have that luxury so I will give you that. I am tired of this game though, prepare to be incinerated.". A ball of fire appeared in his hand and he wound back his arm much like he would do if he pitched a baseball and when he threw it I let out a yell. It seemed like I let out all the pressure that was building up inside of me and next thing I know, the ground erupted in front of me. A torrent of water rushed up and intercepted the ball of fire extinguishing it with a _hiss._ Oddly enough I knew that I could control this water, I raised my arm out and lowered my hand and the water receded so the wall was only a few feet high. I think I know who my father is now.

With a yell Prometheus fired more fire balls but I flicked my wrist up and every flame was extinguished in my water wall. I wanted to try something so I concentrated on the point under the titan and felt a water pressure there. I imagined it rising and all of a sudden I heard a scream of surprise and heard the titan fall. I lowered the wall and charged knowing that the titan was either on the ground or off balance figuring this was my best chance. Running over the water on the ground made me feel refreshed and reinvigorated, as if I hadn't been fighting for a few hours non-stop. Not only that, I felt as if my power increased tenfold. This is the strongest I've ever felt before and I know it was because of the water under my feet. I ran across the road to meet Prometheus who just managed to get to his feet and kicked him hard in the chest sprawling him onto the ground once again. He tried to create a flame in his palm but I doused him in water from the sewers again making him dripping wet. He glared at me and looked completely stunned at the same time. This was one thing he definitely did not expect. I thrust my sword towards his chest but he rolled away out of reach. I was about to go after him but I realized that he was no longer standing on the water anymore and I had a feeling if I stepped away also I would lose all this power. We stood there facing each other, neither daring to make the first move.

"What, too afraid to come and get me?" I taunted him.

"Hah, just catching my breath, nice little stunt you threw there, too bad you couldn't finish the job. It's a shame you don't have any more tricks up your sleeve."

"Well who said that? If you're curious come and find out.". To be honest I have no idea what I can do, I just know that I'm stronger where I am and need him to come here. He can't act weak to a mere demigod so he has to call my taunt.

"Have it your way then, you will die in your fathers own realm."

With that he advanced and raised his sword but before he swung I charged in with Riptide out stretched, point first. I knew the strike wouldn't be fatal but it would at least hurt him. I hit his clothes full on and I was right, the sword definitely scratched him but other than that it bounced off his skin. I'd need a much more powerful attack. He looked down at his torn shirt and a look of disbelief crossed his face. "You'll pay for that" he growled.

I readied my sword and prepared for the onslaught of attacks. This time around though it seemed like he was moving slower than before, either that or I was moving faster. The later is more likely. The water was sharpening my senses and every sword strike he gave seemed to glance off Riptide and I had time to attack back keeping up a game of offense/defense. A sense of calming came over me, I can actually win this fight. He was right though, if he does win then there's no way the others will survive. I need to win to save them and now I have the ability to. Let's end this already.

He went for a downward strike to my head and I caught the blade with mine and our swords got caught on each others pommels, it had turned into a test of brute strength. By no means should I have even remotely been able to push back but I did and slowly pushed him back. I gave one final shove and he backed up a few steps and I could see a look of fear on his face. He knew I wasn't going to stop until he killed me and I wasn't that easy to kill. He yelled and charged in…again but this time I was ready. I pulled his own trick that he pulled on Frank and leaned to the side and stuck my foot out. In any other scenario he would have broken my foot but with the strength of the water and my father he tripped and landed face first. He rolled onto his back and raised his sword to parry a thrust or downwards strike. Instead I swung Riptide into his arm and a gash opened on his bicep. Golden ichor flowed from the wound and he screamed in pain. I parried his weakened counter and slashed his other arm the same way. Soon golden ichor was pooling into a puddle at our feet, showing that the titan was badly wounded. I stood over him and batted his sword away with a flick of my wrist and was about to finish him with a thrust to his chest when he spoke.

"You think this is over Percy Jackson, son of the sea? This is just the beginning, soon all of you will be destroyed then there will be no one in the way. Enjoy your freedom while it lasts." And with that he vanished into thin air. The monsters around me looked terrified, one of their great generals had just been felled by this kid, who on Earth is he. I took the time to run back inside to check on the others. When I reached the roof luckily everyone was still alive, Frank and Jason were both sitting up although Franks legs were heavily bandaged.

"Is everyone okay up here?"

"Percy…You're back. But how?" Jason asked.

"I'll answer your questions later. Right now we really need to get out of here. There's a few hundred monsters down there and with you two hurt we won't stand a chance. Anyone have any ideas?". When no one spoke up I knew I had to think of something. I don't know if I've mentioned this but making plans or thinking in general has never been my strong suit. Everything I've done so far has had the help of the gods but now I was alone. If we try and fight we'll be killed, if we retreat then the monsters will outrun us. Maybe if we-

"There's someone coming up the ladder!" Jess yelled cutting me off. A hand reached the top of the building followed by another and someone or something was about to pull themselves up. Wait, that's a human hand, that hair doesn't look monsterish…

"Don't shoot!", I hit Jess' bow just as she fired throwing her aim away and the arrow sailed across the alley hitting the building behind the store. "Guy's, let me introduce you to my friend Annabeth."

As she climbed the ladder she turned around and helped up Clarisse, then she helped up Will.

"Didn't I tell you guys to go to the subway station?" I told her.

"Yes, but I figured you couldn't run away from all those monsters so we came to help. The alley is blocked now, we pushed some dumpsters and couches, whatever we could find, across it. There isn't another pathway to behind the store from this street but the barricade won't hold for long. How is everyone?" she asked suddenly noticing the three Romans.

"Annabeth, this is Jason, Jess, and Frank" I nodded to each as I said their names. "This is Annabeth, Clarisse and Will, Greek demigods from Camp Half-blood. Now that everyone is introduced, we need to get Jason and Frank out of here first, they're hurt pretty badly.".

"Alright, Will, you go and start shooting at the crowd, keep their attention on you and away from what we might be doing."

"I can help, I'm a daughter of Diana. I can shoot a bow as well as anyone else."

"Alright, you two go, we'll get these guys down. Is there rope anywhere?". Iff you give Annabeth a rope, some cloth and a few seconds she can make anything apparently. In a matter of half a minute she had constructed a sling big enough to hold a person with rope and two shirts we got from downstairs (the monsters hadn't entered the store yet, still reeling over the loss of Prometheus). We got Jason down easily and Frank followed a minute after. So far everything had gone to plan. When everyone was down, Will and Jess followed and we moved as fast as we could before the monsters realized that there was no more need to hide from the arrows and stormed the building. Re raced through the alley following Annabeth as she knew the layout of this area thanks to her maps at the Empire State Building and soon we were underground heading in whatever direction the subway brought us. We had myself, Annabeth, Clarisse, Will, Jason, Frank and Jess. All of us were strong and only a large force of monsters could take us out so now we could start to relax a little.

"So what now? What did you guys have planned?" Jason asked and only now did I realize I never thought we'd make it this far. The plan went off without a hitch and all the demigods escaped, that almost never happens.

"I think I know but right now we have to get safe. We'll take this train further then we'll decide as a group.". That was the end of the conversation and no one spoke for a while. The subway screeched and we passed several stations, none of which we got off at. Eventually I noticed that Annabeth was looking a little bit confused staring off into space.

"What's up Annabeth" I asked.

"Just something I heard when we were setting up the barricade. I heard what sounded like explosions and screams but the screams were only from one person. I don't get it, what happened out there?". I assumed she was talking about the explosions I caused with the water and Prometheus' screams of rage but I didn't think it was the right time to tell her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, we were upstairs making sure you got away safe the entire time. Thank you for saving us back there, if you didn't set up that barricade we would have been stuck a while ago."

"You saved us so we saved you, seemed fair.". After that there was another eerie silence, one that lasted until Annabeth jumped out of the chair she was sitting on. "This is it, everyone off.". We got off and I noticed that we were in another part of New York, Brooklyn. Why'd she take us here and not somewhere out of the city? Not only that but Brooklyn is slightly sketchy, my mom always told me to avoid this part of the city, she said it wasn't safe for me. Never explained why though.

"Hey Annabeth, why are we in Brooklyn?" Clarisse asked before I got to it. Looking around it seemed like no one had an idea why we're here either.

"Last time I heard, one of my friends was based in Brooklyn, I haven't seen him in a few months but he can help us avoid the titans. Also, there's another force that will help keep us protected. The gods don't have a lot of power here." She ended as if that was a good explanation and she turned around showing that she wasn't going to say anymore. What was this force she said? That made no sense at all, the Olympians were the greatest power in existence, equal to the titans so how is it that just a dozen or so kilometers away they had limited power?

"But...what's this force you – "

"I don't know if he's still here but we have to find him. You two remember Grover right?" she cut me off asking Clarisse and Will.

"You mean the satyr?" Will answered.

"Yeah, he's a keeper which means he knows how to find a demigod through scent so maybe he can help block ours to anyone who is searching for us. That and maybe help bolster our ranks by finding others. Last time I heard he was in Prospect Park making sure that all the naiads there were happy and doing okay. Hopefully he's still there." And with that we were off. We navigated streets letting Annabeth lead since she was the best with directions and two things popped out at me. First, there were absolutely no in Brooklyn, at least as far as we could see. The streets were full of cars, mortals, pets, nothing that came from the depths of Tartarus. Secondly, no one spared us a second glance. Normally when a group of kids walked down a street armed with swords, shields, spears and bows, they generally caused a little commotion. I heard of something that protected us, I think they called it the "Mist" or something like that. It changes mortal's minds to what they can comprehend, what looks like a baseball bat might actually be a spear, or a backpack might be a shield. Regardless, it was amazing to see what a mortal might see opposed to what's actually happening.

During our walk Annabeth slowed down so she was beside me rather than in front. "So, you were going to tell me what happened back at the store, those explosions and the yelling?". Oh right, I forgot to tell her about that stuff. Surprisingly the fight with Prometheus had completely slipped my mind. Didn't think something like that would be possible to forget.

"Oh that stuff? The yelling was Prometheus; the explosions were from built up water pressure." And I ended at that, kind of a revenge for the whole "Olympians have no power" here statement.

"Wait, why was a titan yelling, it sounded like he was hurt and built up water pressure? That makes no sense."

"I'll tell you that if you tell me what you meant on the train about the 'force in Brooklyn'". Immediately there was a look of reluctance in her eyes and I could tell that she didn't like this deal but I was far too curious. If I was going to tell her than she was going to tell me. No debate. She saw the look in my face, the fact that I wasn't going to back down and knew that she had to agree.

"When I tell you this you can't freak out okay. That and no one else can know about this, no one.". As she said this I realized that she was speaking low enough that only I could hear her. "And please, don't ask any questions, just listen then answer my question. So a few weeks ago I was in Manhattan at the top of the Empire State Building doing something for our camp leader, Chiron. When I was at the top I saw something over in this area. It seemed to be a lot of lights in the sky so I assumed it was spot lights for some event until I really looked at them. They seemed to form shapes of some sort, something I've seen before but it took me a second to realize what they were. They were Egyptian hieroglyphics, the ones used thousands of years ago in Egypt. Not only that but it seemed like the lights weren't from any source on the ground, they were just there. Then I noticed bursts of light on the ground which seemed odd so I decided to ask Chiron about it when I got back to camp. When I did he didn't answer me right away, saying that it was probably nothing, just some party and the lights were playing tricks with me eyes or something. I knew what I saw so I kept asking him and eventually he gave in when I told him I'd just go and see for myself. The Greek gods are not alone, any beings in the past that were believed are most likely still alive to this day. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, any gods that had a large following are still around, each have their own realm where they are most powerful. In each of their realms, the other gods are a lot weaker, it's always been this way. Brooklyn is home to Egyptians just as Manhattan is home to the Greeks. Those hieroglyphics were cast from a magician, their form of demigod. That's all I got from Chiron, he wouldn't answer any other questions. So what was up with the yelling and explosions earlier?".

"Wait, if there are magicians here then why don't we – "

"I said no questions" she hissed. "I thought the same thing but Chiron did tell me one last thing. We can't see anyone from the Egyptians, a meeting could cause massive problems. Mixing religions can have massive complications and it has never had a good outcome. So no, we can't ask them. Now it's your turn." I knew that I wouldn't get anything else from her, that and I don't think I could take in any more information like that. Egyptian gods, magicians, all this was too much to take in. She was fair to me though so I'll be fair to her.

"Prometheus was yelling because I beat him using built up pressure from the underground pipe lines. Pretty sure it was a gift from my dad." That's all the explanation I gave her and that was all that it seemed she needed. Her jaw dropped and she looked at me in awe.

"So that means…that means – "

"Yupp, that means that my dad gave me powers of the water. He gave me Riptide; my dad is Poseidon."

 _I apologize for the late post. I just started my first year in university and time is fairly sparse to write. If you didn't get that part about the Egyptian gods, it's another series from Rick Riordan called "The Cane Chronicles". I recommend reading it, it's almost as good as Percy Jackson in my opinion. I won't be writing about that anymore, this isn't a cross-over, rather I just needed to clarify why Brooklyn was safe. Once again I am sorry about this late post, hopefully it won't be this bad again. Thank you for reading!_

 _-Alternatewriter_


	11. Chapter 10: The Underground

_Chapter 10: The Underground_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.**

 _Last Chapter: "Yupp, that means that my dad gave me powers of the water. He gave me Riptide; my dad is Poseidon."_

 **Brooklyn: Percy's POV**

"So you said your friend was somewhere around here?" I asked Annabeth. We got to the park about an hour after I told Annabeth that my dad was Poseidon and ever since she hadn't stopped asking me questions about it. 'So what happened?', 'You can control water?', 'How long have you known this?'. I finally had to break it to her that I didn't have any answers other than how long have I known. That answer was a few hours. I was hoping that maybe having her focus on her friend would stop her from asking me any questions because honestly, I was getting tired of her saying 'We finally have a child of the big 3 with us'. It was getting tiring and the expectancy in her voice like she was waiting for me to do something was a little irritating. I just found out who my dad is and all she can ask is about what I can do.

"Yeah, he's a satyr so he'll be where most of the trees are, there's a big pond on the other side so maybe we can try there.". We followed her advice and walked to the other side of the park where like she said was a fairly big pool of water with trees surrounding it, it was a nice spot to just sit down and read a book. That was if we weren't being hunted with thousands of monsters and all powerful titans calling for our deaths. "We need to split up so we can try and cover as much ground to find him. The sooner we can go the better, we might be harder to find here but they can find us if we stay anywhere too long."

"And if we find him, how do know where everyone else is? It's a fairly big park." Frank said and it actually shocked me. Only now did I realize that no one else had spoken the entire trip from the train station to here. They must have been listening to us the entire time, waiting just like her to see if I'd do something special most likely. The only one in the group that didn't act like they were in awe was Jason, I suppose with having Zeus as your father he knew what I as going through.

"Since we haven't seen any monsters around it'll be safe to yell. We'll break off into pairs and split up. Jess and Frank, you take the south side of the pond, Clarisse, Will and I will take the East side. Jason, you and Percy take the west, we came from the north and if he heard us he would have come so we can say he wasn't in that direction. Remember, his name is Grover and if you find him tell him that Annabeth is looking for him, don't scare him away. Let's get going". With that inspirational speech we split up and Jason and I headed off to the west side of the lake. As we were walking everything was pretty quiet and I was starting to doubt how we would find this guy.

"Do you have any idea what a satyr looks like?" I asked Jason.

"We have something like a satyr at camp but we call them fauns and they would never leave camp unless they had to. They are way too lazy so I'm not sure if they even look the same. I'm assuming the Greek ones aren't nearly as big considering they move around so I'm just as lost as you."

"Perfect, so neither of us have any idea what we're looking for other than a guy with goat legs and horns. Perfect.". We kept moving along without saying a word but I noticed that every few second or so Jason kept looking at me, appraising me almost. "Do I have something on my face or…?".

"What? Oh, it's nothing." He answered, seemingly surprised that I caught him. "It's just, did you know who your dad was before all this started or were you in the dark up until today?".

"Before all this started? You mean before the titans attacked?". He nodded his head. "Before all this I was living in Manhattan, going to school and had no idea the Olympian gods ever existed. I didn't know who my dad was, my mom never told me and now I know why, it was to avoid all of this."

"So you survived all this time without training, and being the son of Neptune, Poseidon sorry, you would attract a lot of attention."

"Yeah, I was told that. Apparently my mom married her husband to cover my smell. You'd understand better if you visited our place, the smell could cover anything." A smile crept a little at the corners of his mouth and I realized that this is a guy I could hang out with. Jason wasn't so bad. "So what about you? Praetor of Rome, son of Zeus, what's your story?".

"Well, it started out a little rough, my mom abandoned me at this park and that's where Lupa found me. She takes in all Roman demigods and decides whether or not they are worth bringing to New Rome. Apparently she decided I was and once I got to New Rome everything was different. I was still young but I knew who my dad was, my mom would brag about it all the time to anyone who would listen that "her son was a god of Jupiter". Of course everyone ignored her and called her crazy but she was being honest. When the leaders at the camp found that out I was instantly put into legion training and once I reached the age of maturity to fight I joined them. Ever since then I rose through the ranks with my friend Reyna and on the way I grew a new family, Frank and Jess are part of it. Within two years I was co praetor with Reyna and then all this happened. That's why I don't want to go underground. We need to save the campers at New Rome. It is a fortress right now but I think that we can get there and free at least some of the people. We are the strongest demigod force, if we can't do it then who can?".

"If you want to go to your camp, why didn't you speak up when we were making plans on the train?"

"I wanted to make sure all of you were trustworthy. I know you are but I don't know the others."

"You can trust them. If you want to go and free your friends just run it by them and I'll see if I can persuade them."

"Thanks Percy, you don't know how much that-"before he could finish that thought I heard a branch snap behind me and I spun around taking out riptide and turning it into a sword at the same time. When I saw who had gotten behind us I was a little surprised. "Might want to yell, I think we found him." At the other end of my sword was a guy who would pass as completely mortal if he hadn't had fur on his legs and horns. "Grover?" I asked him. He nodded his head yes. I lowered my sword and smiled to try and calm him down a little since he had a look of pure fear on his face. "Don't worry, we're here with Annabeth, we need your help."

"So, let me get this right, Cronus and the titans escaped from their prison, raised an army and defeated the Olympians who are now being held hostage?". This was the forth time we had run over what had happened with Grover over the last few weeks. He had been at something called a clover meeting or something like, big nature meeting supposedly and missed all of this.

"To summarize it, yes Grover." Annabeth explained, "but not all the Olympians, some were able to get away and they sent us him to help save everyone.". Grover eyed me doubtfully and I couldn't blame him, I was a scrawny little teenager who's greatest accomplishment a month ago was beating my pinball high score on my computer.

"And he's Poseidon's son?"

"Yes Grover, he is."

"Well, not gonna lie, did not expect this when I was on my way back here. So what's the plan? I assume you have one?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out right now, I think our best bet is to go and hide out somewhere, let things die down and then make our move." Annabeth explained what we were talking about before we got to the park.

"Actually, Jason and I were talking and I think that hiding might not be the best option.". Note to self, never, ever, disagree with a kid from Athena, apparently they don't like to be questioned on planning.

"Alright then big shot, what's your plan?"

"So Jason, Jess and Frank come from a place called New Rome right? Jason told me that they are holding all of the roman demi-gods there in a fortress and I have a feeling that all the demigods from Camp Half-Blood are there also. Why have to defend two camps with prisoners when you can defend a fortress with all them in one place? I think we need to try to free the demigods, the numbers we could get might be enough to bring the Olympians out of hiding and bring battle to the titans.". Now I know it sounds like a far fetched plan, a small group of demigods infiltrate a monster fortress, bypass all the guards, free hundreds of demigods and then manage to get out without being killed while being attacked by monsters and several titans no doubt. But hey, we weren't supposed to survive this long anyway so why not test our luck?

"And how exactly do you suggest we get the numbers to take the fortress, beat the titans, even get to New Rome for gods sake?" she countered.

"It was just a thought okay, it would be better than hiding and trying wait it out.".

I could tell that she was considering it because she didn't answer right away, I could also tell that everyone else was on my side because no one looked at me like I was crazy, they were all staring at Annabeth waiting for a response. Everyone except Grover that is, still not sure if he completely understands what's happening.

"Okay it might work, we need to plan it out first, does anyone know where I can see bus or train routes to San Fransisco?".

Tip: If planning to travel, always bring a satyr. They can sniff out the best food joints around a kilometer away, and they have an uncanny sense of direction so if you'll never take the wrong bus.

After we left the park, we scheduled a route to San Francisco which is where New Rome is apparently. Coincidently, it's also where Mount Orthys is so we decided to take a…very indirect route. This was to make sure that it wasn't obvious a group of demigods was going from New York to New Rome, it might seem suspicious, especially if the titans can sense our presence wherever we go. Speaking of that, now that we're not in Brooklyn anymore, that bit about the Egyptian gods no longer applies so we are number one on the monsters hit list. This trip will be fun.

We got the bus tickets and decided to take a nice route that brought us North of San Francisco to try and throw off anyone who was trying to follow us. Of course, since we are the poster children of bad luck, the plan went south immediately. We boarded the bus and lasted until we hit the first bus stop outside of Brooklyn, there we were met with a wonderful welcoming committee, one that would tear our heads of anyway. The bus station most likely looked like it was a typical busy day with commuters wanting to go home but no, the mist is covering a horde of monsters, at least 25 of them. There were a few hell hounds, empousa, harpies in the sky, dracaenae and just for good measure, a hyperborean giant. We looked at each other not knowing what to do, we couldn't risk a fight here where there were civilians every where.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, really hoping anyone would answer.

"We have to try to lure them away, if we get them in an alley in the back then they should be far enough away to cause anyone any harm." Annabeth said. "If we can get them down that alley over there" pointing to a alley behind the bus station, "we can protect these people and funnel them into a small area where there numbers don't count. Is everyone ready, once the doors open we run."

There was a communal nod and we all moved slowly to the front of the bus hoping to pass off as a bunch of teenagers trying to get off early rather than run away and lure some Greek monsters to their deaths. Once the bus came to a stop and the doors opened, we were off. Annabeth led the way with us running behind and instantly the monsters followed us, the harpies and hell hounds instantly gaining on us. When we were 15 feet from the entrance to the alley way I could hear the panting of something that sounded and smelled horrible, I took out my pen, uncapped it and swung in a blind circle hoping to scare away the hell hound but I got lucky for once. The blade cut through the beast's forehead and turned to dust, the others who were right behind it faltered for a second so I turned and kept on running. I caught up to the others just as they turned to make their stand. Frank, Jason, Clarisse, Annabeth and I would make up the front line and take on the empousa and dracaenae while Frank and Jessica would shoot down the harpies and try to deal with the hyperborean. Grover, I'm not sure what satyrs do exactly so I don't know what his plan is.

The harpies came first but before the first few could fly down to attack us, two were turned to dust by arrows. There was no time to admire their handy work because the hell hounds were mere feet away ready to pounce and that's when something came over me. I don't know why but I charged out to meet the hounds in the alleyway and it clearly stumped them as much as it stumped me. I sliced riptide downwards onto the head of the first beast before they came to their senses and that was enough time for my friends to catch up and throw themselves at the few hell hounds remaining. Annabeth gutted one with her spear and Frank threw his spear so hard half of it was sticking through the other side of the third hell hound. The dracaenae advanced in a shield wall that expanded the alley with empousa behind giving orders. The hellhounds had been turned to dust and the harpies are no longer with us due to Frank and Jess but there was still about 15 dracaenae and a few empousa, not to mention the giant in the back who was seeming to be waiting for his friends to take us out.

There was no charge this time from me, we just watched as they came towards us and it was clear that it was going to be numbers against training. "These aren't the worst odds we've faced today you know" I though to myself. That was all I could think though before they reached us, luckily, they didn't have spears or they could have easily killed us from a distance since we don't all have shields, they have to come in nice and close where we can reach them also. Feet from us, Annabeth let out a scream and everyone flinched, both demigod and monster and she leapt at their shield wall pushing back to of the snake demons opening a hole and at that, we all charged. Jason used his Roman training with his short sword and thrusted at any snake skin that shown to him, taking off limbs and thrusting back the women. Clarisse was a force to reckon with and before any had attacked her, she cleaved two in half with her sword. Frank had three of them at bay with his shield, none of them wanting to attack first and seeing all this, I was oblivious to the danger I was in. Before I knew it, Annabeth had slammed into me just as I saw the sword swing right where my head was just a moment ago. She recovered herself in an instant and Annabeth stabbed the dracaenae in the gut, she doubled over and Annabeth hit her in the head with the pommel of her sword, turning her to dust. I nodded my thanks and got up, deciding that I could say that after this was done. A quick glance showed that the majority of the enemy were gone, just a handful of dracaenae and two empousa who were slowly being forced back by the charge. The hyperborean had moved forward now but he was crying out in pain, either Jessica or Will had shot an arrow which took off half his ear. As I watched it feeling where his earlobe once was, two arrows thudded into his forehead and he was stunned, then a third, and a forth and the giant fell forwards in a giant heap. The remaining monsters looked back once they heard the giant hit the ground and that was their undoing. Once their attention was not on us, they had no chance. They were turned to dust instantly.

"Is everyone okay?" Will ran up to us asking?

"I think we're fine, that was nice shooting you two, wasn't sure how we were going to deal with the giant there" I began to say to them but Grover cut me off, "Okay okay, nice shooting, thank you for saving us but we need to go, NOW!"

"Woah woah woah there Grover, what's wrong?" Jason asked.

"They're coming, a huge hoard is coming by the smell of it, enough to take on you guys easily enough. If we don't leave right now, then we won't make it!"

"Do you know what "they" are Grover?" Annabeth responded.

"Hell hounds, dracaenae, harpies, giants, empousa, and I think a gorgon, not sure which one. It smells like there is easily 100 of them. There's only one way to outrun them Annabeth, we have to go down."

"What, no, we can't go down there, it drove Chris crazy last time! He almost didn't make it out, it's a deathtrap!" Clarisse yelled out scared. I'm very confused at this point, where is "down there", who's Chris and why on Earth aren't we moving yet?!

"I don't like the sounds of where ever 'down there' is, but if it saves our lives I say we give it a chance, where is it?" I tell them, hopefully they follow me because I'm not too inclined to fight that army today. Or any other day really.

"It's the labyrinth Percy, it's a magical place under ground. Grover's right, we need to take it Clarisse, it's our only chance to get away from them. We can't fight them and you know it." She turned around without getting an answer from Clarisse and the pain on her face showed that she probably wouldn't get one any. Annabeth walked forward and started speaking, "I've been looking at entrances to the labyrinth since the Titans attacked, knowing that it would be a quick way to escape them and I know there's entrances all over the place, we just need to find…" and she ran to the corner of a building that was at an intersection in the alley. "This, here, it's the sign of Daedalus, see the triangle?". She was right, there was a faint triangle in the cement, but it could be anything, I mean graffiti is everywhere in this city. "If I just push it then it should.." and sure enough, when she pushed it the alley floor rumbled and a hatch opened up leading to blackness, no stairs or a ladder just a hole. I was about to protest but I heard a scream behind me and turned just in time to see harpies flying around the corner, finally seeing us and they moved in for the kill.

"Okay, everyone in the dark scary hole, GO NOW!" I yelled. Each of us jumped in, not waiting to hear if it was safe because nothing could be more dangerous than what was coming our way. Just as I jumped down, the hatch closed and the last thing I saw was the scarred face of a harpy then everything went black.

The drop wasn't long, maybe 10 feet but it was black, there was no light at all until someone took out a lighter illuminating the room. We were in what seemed to be a room that you would see in an old Roman home in a movie. There was a mosaic on the one wall, the floor was tiled, and there was a fountain in the middle of the room that had been long since dried up. The room was in despair however, the tiles were cracked, some were missing entirely and the mosaic was only half remaining. The most eerie part though wasn't the room, it was the exits. There was one on either side and both looked uninviting, almost deadly.

"Guys…what is this place?" I asked in general.

"I've heard of a place like this but we always thought that it was a myth." Jason said. He, Frank, and Jess all gave each other glances and they actually looked scared. These Roman demigods were scared of a maze? What is this place…?

"This is the labyrinth Percy." Annabeth explained. "It was created by Daedalus millennia ago for the king of Crete at the time, Minos. You remember the minotaur? Yeah, this was his prison. He was the son of Minos' wife and a bull, don't get me started on how that came to be. The minotaur was so strong that no regular prison could hold him so Daedalus created this, there's only one way back to the entrance at Crete and the maze changes it all the time making it impossible to remember. Only Daedalus and Theseus have been able to come in here and leave unharmed. We sent a group of demigods down here once to check it out and only one came back, Chris. He wasn't right after that, kept saying this place was full of monsters and that everyone was killed. He was Clarisse's boyfriend at the time, that's why she didn't want to come down here, this place almost killed him."

"So wait, this place was the minotaur's prison? The beast that my dad just killed? Won't that thing have a vendetta against me so isn't hanging out in his old home like a bad thing?"

"It shouldn't be able to come back for a few days yet, it's a fairly big monster so it will take some time to reincarnate, hopefully it won't be back by the time we reach San Francisco."

"That's another thing, we are hundreds of miles away from the city, how do you expect us to get there? Is there a labyrinth taxi service or?"

"You really have no idea how the labyrinth works, do you?" Will asked. "The labyrinth stretches all across the United States and what may seem like a five-day car ride can actually be in the corridor beside us. Distance is different down here, it's almost non-existent. This place is so messed up that no one has ever made a map of it, it changes so often that not even the gods could navigate through it."

Frank spoke up this time. "We have rumours about this place back in New Rome. It's supposedly filled with traps that were meant to keep the minotaur in here, there are booby traps, some of the worst monsters imaginable, there's even an arena where if you end up there, it's impossible to come out. Like they said, only two people have navigated this place successfully so unless you have Ariadne's string, we're doomed."

"Hang on there Frank, no group of demigods like us have ever entered here. If there is anyone who can get us out, it's Annabeth so we have to trust her." Jason reasoned. "Do you know where to go Annabeth?"

"The labyrinth is impossible to map since it changes all the time so we have no idea. I can try to reason the correct way but it's not a definite guarantee. Now that wall is facing North, or it was when we jumped in here" she said, pointing to the wall with a partly destroyed mosaic of what looked like a Olympian feast. "We need to go west, so let's go through that door, from now on we can't use directions though or the maze will make us lose our way. Let's go." And with that we followed her into the dark room, luckily, when travelling with a group of demigods who have been trained to fight for their life, one of us was bound to have a flashlight and Frank pulled one out of his backpack showing us the corridor we entered.

This was a little more modern, it had cement floors and a curved cement ceiling, almost resembling a sewer in downtown New York. It was a straight path and the next corridor brought us into a new time period. We were in a temple, kind of like the ones you saw on the history channel but this one was in rough condition. Half the columns had fallen over and the roof was close to collapsing in on us. The floor that was once a beautiful marble piece of work had been here cracking for millennia now, forgotten. The statue is unrecognizable, it seemed that something had pounded it into rubble long ago. Frank lit up each corner in the room and in the far-left corner there was something that I couldn't make out.

"Frank, can you shine your light over here?" I asked walking over to it. As he did I stopped halfway finally realizing what it was. It was a skeleton in Greek battle armor, a Greek warrior who found his way down here and died without anyone knowing. I scrambled back to everyone else before they saw it and directed them to the opposite corner. "What was it Percy?" Clarisse asked.

"It was nothing, just a piece of the ceiling." I told them and most seemed to accept that answer, everyone but Annabeth that is. "Anyway, where now? This room has two exits not mentioning the one we just came from.". There was an entrance in the wall directly across the way we came in and one on the side wall where the skeleton was.

"Well, there's no way telling for sure, there are no markings saying which way to go so anyone's guess is as good as—"before she could finish she was cut off by a scream. A battle cry is a better word for it. All of a sudden, we could here dozens of feet running towards us through the entrance near the skeleton and that made our decision really easy, we all bolted for the other door and as soon as we all made it through we were thrown off our feet. The room seemed to be spinning and when it finally stopped he were all dazed and confused as to what just happened.

"What on Earth…where are we guys?" I asked. We seemed to be in a circular room but there was no exit, just solid walls which doesn't explain how we got here. I was about to ask what we do now but that's when we heard the voice. It boomed down from the domed ceiling.

"IT'S SO NICE OF YOU TO JOIN US HERE. NOW, GUESTS, MAY I INTRODUCE OUR NEXT COMPETITORS, THE GREEK AND ROMAN DEMIGOD'S! I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU TO THE ARENA OF THE LABYRNTH! TO ESCAPE YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE FOR 10 ROUNDS, THE FIRST 5 ARE TEAM FIGHTS BUT THEN THE CROWD WILL CHOOSE THE DEMIGOD WHO WILL FIGHT THE LAST FIVE ALONE!"

Instantly there was an uproar of cheering from somewhere and then suddenly the ceiling retracted like some stadiums do and it revealed a massive number of stands, filled with monsters and what seemed to be ghosts. At this point I don't question the ghosts, anything can be real now. The fans weren't the scary thing though, it was the fact that the announcer said that we were competitors, who were we competing with and what was the competition. "Frank, you said that the Romans had myths about an arena, right? What was it like?" I had to yell to Frank to be heard over the crowd.

"Yeah but this can't be it, they said that the ground was covered in sand like an old gladiator arena. Also there's supposed to be some type of pavilion where the orator sits…". He stopped there and looked up behind me and when I turned around, sure enough there was a space set aside where some important looking, human like guy was sitting, smiling down at us. Then I looked down and sure enough the ground had magically been covered in sand.

"Guys, I think we're in for a fight."

"HOW NICE OF YOU TO FINALLY JOIN US!" the orator said. "WE HAVE BEEN WAITING BUT NOW THE FUN CAN BEGIN, HOPEFULLY YOU CAN LAST LONGER THAN THAT OTHER GROUP OF DEMIGODS YOU SENT DOWN HERE, THEY WERE NO FUN!"

Hearing this, Annabeth ran towards them yelling "YOU WERE THE ONES WHO KILLED MY FRIENDS, I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!" but once she reached the wall she realized that there was no way up to him. She came back furious and looked like she could decapitate someone which was very much possible.

"YOU'LL GET YOUR CHANCE ANNABETH CHASE BUT ONLY IF YOU CAN BEAT THE FIRST 10 ROUNDS. NOW CROWD, THANK YOU TO OUR NEW SPONSOR CRONOS, WE HAVE SOME NEW FIGHTERS JOINING US TODAY! CAN WE PLEASE PUT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE TOGETHER FOR OUR FIRST FIGHT, DEMIGODS VERSUS DRACAENAE!". The crowd cheered as soon as the announcer said dracaenae showing who they were supporting. I looked around and took stock of what we were armed with before the dracaenae came out. Annabeth and Clarisse had only swords left, they lost their shields when we ran from that last room. Frank still had his spear and legionary shield, not sure how he kept the shield for so long. Will and Jess still had their bows and their quivers were enchanted to never run out of arrows. Jason had his sword out and I had my trusty pen. Not the best of odds since only one of us had a shield.

"Annabeth" I called over to her, "what do we do!?"

"Form a line, Frank in the middle with me and Clarisse on his side and you and Jason take the flanks! We hold them in the middle and you two do whatever you can to take them from the sides. Jess and Will, stay back and find an angle." Before she could give more orders a section of the wall moved to the side and out slithered our opponents. There was 20 or so of them and they moved in formation. They presented a wall of shields with the second rank with spears overhead to stab down at us. Those armed only with swords fanned out the sides and immediately I knew we were in trouble, if they reached us then those with spears could easily take us down since we had no way of protecting ourselves. All of a sudden two of the dracaenae on the flank I was on dropped and turned to dust. I looked behind me and saw that Will and Jess were on my side also taking out the enemy giving me better odds.

"Go and help Jason now" I called out to them after they had taken down two more that were walking towards me. "I can handle the rest here!". They moved to the side and I noticed that we only had a few seconds left before they reached our line. I looked across at my friends and saw that a few of them seemed to accept their fate, Frank was still standing defiantly, looking at the enemy as if he was going to kill them all. I met eyes with Jason and he glanced at the enemy in front of him, Jess and Frank had taken out a number of his threat also and the look he gave me told me his plan. I nodded and I saw his fingers raise on the pommel of his sword. 3 fingers were up, then 2, 1, and we charged. The line of dracaenae stopped moving forward and each of them looked at us, unfortunately our friends were also surprised at our rush so they didn't rush out with us so it was 2 demigods attacking the flanks of 14 dracaenae. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in skill. Jason ducked under the first sword swing and went down on one knee, thrusting his sword into the snake demons gut then got up and looked around seeing who was willing to approach him. I ran up on the other side and ploughed between two dracaenae who were stalled by our charge. I turned around and stabbed one high in the back and it went down with a scream. I pulled my sword free and swung at the other that I pushed but she had regained her wit and parried it. I feinted a cut towards her stomach and as she went to parry it again I angled my sword upwards cutting off her clawed hand. I hit her in the head with my pommel then stabbed her in the chest, watching her turn to dust.

I looked over and saw that the entire formation of monsters had stopped and a few were leaving it to come meet Jason and I. On the bright side, that meant our friends had better odds but ours just got much worse. Three dracaenae advanced towards me, one with a sword and two with spears that were behind the shield wall originally. I was about to fall back a few steps when the enemy with a sword dropped then the dracaenae with a spear to her left dropped also. I saw the arrows in their chests and knew that Will and Jess were behind me. I charged forward and the dracaenae flinched backwards, tripping on her own tail and was dust before she hit the ground. I turned around again and saw that the others had charged into the wall. Frank had run through the center and using his weight, pushed aside any enemy that was in front of him and the two girls took out any snake demons that he moved out of position. The shield Frank had proved to be impenetrable to the spears and Frank ploughed on only hesitating to run his own spear through the nearest dracaenae. He was soon on the other side of the enemy formation and a quick count showed that they were down to nine. We now surrounded them, Clarisse and Annabeth infront of them, Jason and I on their flanks and Frank behind. Jess and Will moved to either side, slightly behind the two girls and looked for any opening to shoot their arrows at. The dracaenae were only armed with shields now, the rest of their formation having already turned to dust so with no weapons, they were hopeless. We all charged in at once and the force of our charge pushed them into each other and they were cut down within a minute. The last being run through the side of her waist with Franks spear.

All was quiet but then the crown burst into applause, "CONGRAGULATIONS DEMIGODS. YOU HAVE BEAT THE FIRST TASK BUT THERE IS NO TIME FOR REST. THE SECOND-ROUND WILL PROVE TO BE EVEN HARDER, MAY I INTRODUCE, THE SECOND COMPETITOR OF THE NIGHT, _"

 _I'm gonna leave it on a nice cliff hanger here and I would like to apologize for the very late addition. I am only now started to wrap up my school year, I hope you all understand! I hope you enjoy and if you have any comments feel free to review, thanks!_

 _-AnonymousWriter_


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